


Paradigm Shift

by UltimateGamer101



Series: UG101's Multi-Chapter MHA/BNHA Stories [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Abused Midoriya Izuku, Androgynous Midoriya Izuku, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Mom Inko, Child Abuse, Crossover, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Don’t copy to another site, Fluff, Gender Is An Illusion Here, Genderfluid Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko's A+ parenting, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Pokemon, Pokemon Journey, Prefers Neutral Form But Also Likes Male And Female Forms, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2020-06-26 01:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19757725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateGamer101/pseuds/UltimateGamer101
Summary: Midoriya Izuku is your average kid. He has two parents who love him, and he's friends with almost all of the Pokemon they have. He's a ball of energetic sunshine, smiling and crying with all his heart and soul, bringing light to the lives of those around him. He's four years old, and waiting for his quirk to manifest, so he can be certain that his dreams of aren't beyond reach.Not long after his best friend, Bakugou Katsuki, gets his quirk, Izuku's own quirk begins to manifest. Overnight, the boy's dreams are confirmed to be achievable... but it's not as simple as that.His quirk is nothing like those of his parents', and the other kids haven't stopped making fun of him. Society doesn't like things that are different, after all, and for Izuku, differences keep popping up left and right. When nowhere feels safe anymore, where can he take shelter? When nobody approves of his existence, who can he turn to for support?The world is not a happy place, but there is happiness to be found within it... if only one looks in the right places.





	1. Paradise, And Its Fading

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to another MHA fic from me, with a twist! This is going to be my first crossover fic, inspired by the few and glorious MHA/Pokemon crossover fics I've read in the past, and I'm hoping to do them justice and/or outshine them all >:D

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual Pokemon League Championship, where trainers come together from all over Japan for a chance at the prestigious spot on top of the food chain! Today is the general public's first-ever sneak peek at the process by which a new Champion is chosen each year, as before today, only trainers who had collected all eight gym badges were eligible to traverse Victory Road! Stay tuned, as the news station you can trust enters to find our new Champion firsthand!"

A three year old Izuku was seated directly in front of the TV, captivated by all the different Pokemon being shown in all of the different fights going on. His parents sat upon the couch behind him, watching his enthusiasm with a smile, as their Pokemon crowded around with their own curiosities. Everyone's eyes remained mostly on the screen, until Izuku squealed and drew their focus, and so the cycle repeats.

"The first round seems to be a bit of a free-for-all, with trainers challenging each other left and right! It seems that they're disqualified from the running once they run out of supplies to take care of their Pokemon with and once their entire teams have fainted, as they'll leave Victory Road behind and not return! Miyagi-san, as a previous contender in the Championship, what can you tell us about this?"

A window appeared in the corner of the screen, displaying the face of a horned reporter, as he responded. Izuku began to whine with displeasure at the box, blocking out the view of some of the battles going on, and Midoriya Hisashi chuckled from the couch.

"Well Megumi-san, you're only half correct in your deduction as to this being a free-for-all. The trainers in this room will only challenge each other once, until they've challenged everyone else, and only then will they repeat opponents. Their goal here is to be the last man standing, at which point they will move on to their next challenge... no spoilers, though!"

The box minimized, and Izuku calmed down again, his eyes locked on the battles that had previously been out of view. He heard his Papa whisper something to one of his Pokemon, and a chirpy sort of cry responded, before the greenette was pulled a little bit away from the screen again. Yes, yes, he kept crawling forward and getting too close, but it was so exciting! There were all these new Pokemon he'd never seen before, Dragons and Fairies and Ghosts and Darks, and he wanted to try figuring out which types he had affinities for!

In this world, long before the appearance of quirks, people considered their type affinities to be the most important parts of who they were. One's affinities would dictate what types of Pokemon a trainer took after and got along best with, and what types of Pokemon would be unlikely to listen to and even hostile towards said trainer. Nobody could command every type of Pokemon, but also, nobody was unable to command Pokemon at all. There was a balance, and with each new person born onto this planet, the balance was continuously kept.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we have our last man standing! Wait, is that... it is! It's the Yuuei student who knocked out half the stadium in her last Sports Festival! Kayama Nemuri, with the hero name 'Midnight'! Let's follow her to see how she does in her next trial!"

The R-rated heroine wasn't in her hero costume, instead being dressed in red heels, comfortable black slacks, and a lovely red blouse that showed off her cleavage in a more than suggestive way. Her glasses were the same as those she wore in her hero costume, hinting to the public that those were the glasses she wore on her time off... but perhaps that was misdirection.

Regardless, it made perfect sense that she wasn't in her costume. The Pokemon League Championship was an event open to all citizens, from ages ten and up, and the Pokemon League itself was a separate entity from the Heroics Industry. Heroes received no extra accolades from the League if they ended up becoming Champions, but the publicity of being a Champion gave healthy boosts to their careers, especially if they were new faces in the world. This was likely the reason that Midnight was there- her quirk was more supportive than combative, meaning that she needed a little extra attention to reach the heights of those like All Might and Endeavor.

As Midnight moved through the door, the reporter and her cameraman made to follow, when the door slammed shut and a beefy guard with a mutant quirk stepped between them.

"What- we're not allowed to witness the second stage? But we have it in writing that we'll be seeing the Champion fight his challenger!"

The guard leaned in and whispered something in the woman's ear, before leaning back, a smirk upon their rhinoceros-like face. Another moment passed before the woman sighed, and she turned back to the cameraman, waving for him to follow as she made her way around the battle chamber.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to say that we won't be seeing the second stage of the Championship, but we _will_ be seeing the battle for Champion title of Champion! In the past, clearing the second stage has taken times from twenty minutes to two hours, and I thank you for your patience! But fear not viewers- while we wait for Midnight to pass or fail, we'll be having an impromptu interview with the current Champion!"

Glancing between the screen and his drawing paper, Izuku took the given break time to attempt drawing some of the Pokemon he'd seen and had thought were the most interesting, circling parts of their bodies due to the fact that he couldn't write about them just yet. His kanji were abysmal, and his hiragana was only just passing muster, so he couldn't properly convey his ideas. No matter, though, he'd be able to do that when he was older.

As the reporter spoke with the current Champion, all wiry limbs and grace, the young Izuku colored away and waited for the battle to come.

* * *

Pokemon were everywhere.

There weren't many left unclaimed, as the population of humans had grown by leaps and bounds through the centuries, but there was still an abundance of them around. Breeding centers, pet stores, those and more- Pokemon of all shapes and sizes could be found practically anyplace nearby, all except for the regional rarities and shinies that appeared in the wild.

Walking down the street with his Mama, Izuku could see the companions of teens and adults traveling alongside them, with more, occupied pokeballs visibly hanging from their belts or bags. There were laws in place that declared that trainers of certain ages and skill levels could only have so many Pokemon in their teams or out of their pokeballs, in order to prevent overcapture and lack of personal space, and to ensure the comfort of both species.

As the most inexperienced trainers, children and teens were limited to six registered Pokemon, and they could only have up to three out at a time. Once the greenette was seven years old, he'd be able to get his first Pokemon, and he'd be in this category for a while.

One of the perks of adulthood, adult civilians could have up to nine registered Pokemon, and five companions could walk alongside them. Izuku wasn't really looking forward to being an adult, but he was definitely excited for the increased number of companions he'd be able to have. He didn't have many human friends, but he could have friends in his Pokemon, and more would be merrier!

Gym Leaders, those who served as leaders and protectors of their cities, could have up to twelve registered Pokemon and seven free to keep an eye out for trouble. The greenette respected these people, as they sort of acted like the police, but in a more personal capacity. They were there for the hearts of their citizens as well as their laws and safety, and were always free to help someone in need. In fact, if the profession of 'Hero' didn't exist, then this is the thing that he would aspire to be.

Heroes could have up to eighteen registered Pokemon, and while on duty, they were permitted to have up to all of their Pokemon out at once. Izuku didn't know how they could keep track of them all, how they could coordinate their partners and remember all of their moves and know what was best for each one all the time, but it was amazing to see firsthand. High-level evolutions helping their heroic trainers save the innocents and defeat the Pokemon of villains, flashy moves and sneaky moves and beauty amidst the chaos... He especially loved to see how certain Pokemon moves worked with the quirks of their trainers, and the Heroics Industry was the place that happened most often.

If only he could get his first Pokemon today! He wanted it, he wanted it so much, but first he had to deal with his quirk like all the other kids did. Don't get him wrong, he was absolutely _eager_ to find out what his quirk was and how he could use it to be a hero, but sometimes the age limit on Pokemon frustrated him.

In order to prevent children with newly manifested quirks from potentially harming their companions, a law had been established to make sure they have control over their abilities before they'd get their starters. At first, the limit was ten years old, but as quirks were studied and grew easier to understand, the limit slowly made its way down to seven. Two years after initial manifestation was the average time it took for kids to gain decent control of their quirks, and an additional year provided the time to learn more about how they worked, meaning that the vast majority of children were ready to receive their first companions by the time they hit seven years old.

Izuku, currently being four years old, knew that his quirk was going to manifest soon. He could feel it in the way his skin tingled sometimes, and in the way his body ached at night. He was probably going to have a mutant quirk, as his current symptoms lined up with the typical preparations for a mutant quirk manifestation, but there was the possibility that it could be a powerful transformation quirk too. He didn't understand how the two emitter quirks of his parents could combine to make a mutant or transformation quirk, but either way, he was excited.

Maybe his entire body would be made of fire, and he'd be able to control the element with such skill and power that he'd be as amazing as Kacchan was.

Maybe he'd be a giant magnet, able to pull and repel things of much larger sizes than his Mama could manage, and he'd use it to push collapsing walls away from the civilians trapped beneath them.

Maybe he'd be both, an incredible hero capable of taking down villains and saving civilians equally... and maybe he'd be neither, but one of the endless possibilities that came with not knowing.

Izuku could feel his quirk getting ready to manifest, and he couldn't wait to show it off for all the world to see.

* * *

"Ah, it says here that you're looking for your son's quirk?"

The quirk specialist glanced over his clipboard, and Izuku looked around the room, kicking his feet beneath him. He already knew what his quirk was, but his Mama didn't believe him when he told her, and had sent him to his room for lying. Well, maybe now that he could show it to someone official, she'd believe him!

"Yes, he has an active imagination, so it's hard to be sure-"

Izuku spoke up, interrupting Inko in the middle of her sentence.

"I can change from boy to girl and back again!"

Inko stared at him, her lips pursed with displeasure, as the doctor let out a hearty chuckle.

"Well, I suppose we'll find out what's real and what's in the imagination today. Just for the process of elimination, let's indulge a bit."

The greenette tilted his head, unsure of what the word 'indulge' meant, but decided to find out later. It was more important to him to finally prove that his quirk was what he said it was! He wasn't lying or playing pretend, he could actually change his body!

"And what are you right now, Izuku-chan?"

Izuku smiled, and yanked his pants down, ignoring the embarrassed gasp that came from his Mama at the action. "I'm a boy right now! And when I change into a girl, my peepee will go away!"

"I am so sorry about him, I know you're not that kind of doctor-"

He jumped away from the hands that tried to pull his pants back up, giggling as he used the chair he'd previously been sitting in as a shield. His Mama could probably use her quirk on him to pull him over, but they weren't at home, and Mama told him that they couldn't use their quirks willy-nilly out in public!

Heh, _willy_ -nilly.

"That's not necessary, Midoriya-san, I am well aware of the antics children can get up to. It's faster to play along and talk to them about it."

The doctor turned his attention back to Izuku, as Inko sat back down in her own seat, and continued.

"Izuku-chan, could you use your quirk and show your mother what's inside of your pants when you're done?"

Izuku nodded, and closed his eyes. His skin tingled, as it always did, but the tingling grew deeper and more pronounced the longer he focused on it. Eventually it felt like his entire body was numb, and that was when things changed, when she could let the tingling feeling go and feel the minor pins-and-needles pain that came about after it.

The girl shook herself off, and made her way over to her Mama, pulling her boxers forward to show her that her peepee was gone. She smirked at the surprised gasp Inko made, and pulled up her pants once she'd been proven right, taking a seat back on her chair and kicking her feet triumphantly.

"I-I thought he was just playing pretend all this time..."

The doctor nodded with an expression of understanding, and took down his notes of the event, pen scratching against paper.

"Of course, many parents come to that conclusion when their child's quirk is seemingly unrelated to their own. Mutations of this degree are quite rare, after all..." He finished writing, and turned back towards Izuku. "Now, have you tried to shift into any other forms other than this one?"

Memories of trying to become a dragon passed through the girl's mind, and she nodded, before explaining what happened like the doctor wanted her to.

"I tried to become a dragon so I could breathe fire like Papa, but that didn't work. I also tried becoming a cat, and that also didn't work. I think I can only change whether I'm a boy or a girl."

The man nodded, writing this down, and shifted in his seat so his legs were crossed at the ankles.

"Have you ever tried to take on a human form that isn't male or female? If not, why don't you try that now, and tell me how you feel when you're using your quirk."

Izuku closed her eyes again, and tried to focus on what would be a form that was neither male nor female. Her skin tingled and her body went numb, and she somehow felt like she was going back to her boy form, so she pulled back and tried to focus on what it was like in the middle of the transformation. When she shifted between forms, the private parts seemed to shift out by vanishing and then reforming, so she could probably shift into a neutral form if she focused on that middle state as the end goal. That should work, right?

Right.

Izuku twitched a bit as the pins and needles sensation returned, and held still, as they opened their eyes. They saw the doctor watching them patiently, waiting for them to share their results, and they saw Inko move uncomfortably in her seat.

"I did it! And when I'm using my quirk, it's like my body goes all tingly and numb, and I shift when it's numb! When I stop using my quirk, the numbness goes away, and I feel lots of pins and needles! It kinda hurts, but it's all over my body at once, so it doesn't really hurt at the same time? It's weird."

The doctor nodded once more, and smiled at the small family before him, holding out his clipboard.

"Congratulations on finding your quirk, Izuku-chan. Now all that's left is for the two of you to name it, and I'll enter it into the system on my way out."

Izuku bounced happily in their seat, watching their Mama take the clipboard and look over what it said. They weren't really sure what they wanted to call their quirk, so they were content to let her decide, and simply waited while she chewed on her lip.

"How does... Gender Shift sound?"

They nodded happily, and Inko returned the clipboard to the doctor, allowing him to note the name while the two Midoriyas got ready to leave.

"Alrighty then, you're free to go! Feel free to drop by the receptionist's desk for some candy or a sticker on your way out."

The greenette perked up at the sound of candy, and glanced rapidly between their Mama and the desk as they went by, but was soon disappointed as they continued past it. Inko said nothing about it, leaving them to pout as she brought her Gardevoir out, and the family made their way home.

Disregarding the lack of candy at the end, the day had gone pretty well, and Izuku had proven that they were telling the truth about their quirk. Now they could start thinking about how they could be a hero with their quirk, and they could show it to all of the kids at school- all except for Kacchan, because he already knew about it. They'd stop being mean to them, and they'd have more than one friend again!

Midoriya Izuku would be accepted, and they would have friends again. Now, if only they could figure out why Mama was looking at them like that...


	2. Education, Exploration, Despair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Child abuse in this chapter, and in a good few of the upcoming chapters too.

Men weren't created equal, as Izuku had come to realize.

Mama had told him that she didn't want him showing his quirk to the people at school right now, and while it had confused him, he'd listened. She couldn't have known what would happen. She couldn't have known how cruel the other kids would be, when the rumor that he was quirkless started going around.

Kacchan knew that he wasn't quirkless, so he stood up for him, at first. When the greenette never showed them his quirk though, shying away from the idea of disobeying his mother, the blonde grew confused. He took Izuku aside at lunch one day and asked him why he wasn't proving all those extras wrong, and when he received the answer that 'Mama said not to,' he left the other to work things out on his own. It wasn't like he could fight his Auntie's commands, after all, so there wasn't anything he could do until he could talk to her about it.

Izuku found himself with a companion home from school that day, and as he went to get a glass of water for his friend- he knew that his quirk made him get dehydrated after a while- Kacchan spoke with his Mama in the living room.

"Auntie, he's being bullied! Why can't he just tell them about his quirk?"

The discussion ended shortly after, with Katsuki leaving in a huff, and then Inko was standing over him.

"Izuku, I thought I told you not to tell any of your friends about your quirk."

She looked furious, and cold. Judging by how far her Gardevoir stayed behind her, peeking around a wall instead of standing out in the open, it was clear that she felt as strongly as she appeared to feel.

"I-I didn't! Kacchan was there when it first ma-manifested, so he saw it then!"

A sharp smack echoed through the room, and Izuku found himself on the floor, staring up at his Mama with pain flaring through his cheek. She stepped forward, and he stayed where he was, too shocked to move as she berated him for not telling her about this sooner.

"I had to make it clear to Katsuki that he can't tell anyone about it, and who knows how many people think you have that quirk now? You don't want people to think that you're a freak, do you?"

The greenette burst into tears, crying more about the fact that Mama had just hit him than he was about her words, though she took it the other way around. She nodded firmly, staring down at him with narrowed eyes, and continued speaking.

"It's unnatural to be able to change yourself like that, Izuku. People don't like it when you hop between genders like a rabbit in a carrot patch, and you'd only be hated for it if they knew you could do that. Not to mention all of the hate I'd receive for having birthed you in the first place. It's better that they think you're quirkless than an abomination to the natural order."

The venom in her words stuck with him the most, though. Not the pain, and not what she was actually saying, but the sheer malice in her voice. She'd never spoken to him with that sort of animosity before, had never raised a hand to hit him, but today she was different. He didn't know what to think...

Did she really hate him, or was she just... angry about his mistake?

"Now, go to your room, and stay there. You're not getting dinner, and I don't want to see you for the rest of the night. Understood?"

Izuku nodded, still holding his cheek, and finally found himself able to move. He stared up at his Mama through blurry vision a bit longer, before she made a gesture to shoo him off. That was all he needed to obey, all he needed to quickly escape into his bedroom, where he closed the door and sat down behind it.

She had to be right, that it would be better for people to think he was quirkless. She had to be right that they'd hate him, because she knew his quirk and she'd only started hating him after he got it. Kacchan didn't hate him yet, so there was the possibility that she was wrong, but... he knew that his friend wouldn't wait for him much longer.

The greenette was going to be alone, someday, whether it be by having a terrible quirk or by having no quirk at all.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku was six years old.

It was his birthday, and Mama wasn't home yet, having taken more hours at work in effort to pay for what couldn't be covered by what Papa sent them. She'd left her Gardevoir with him to keep an eye out though, to make sure that he didn't try to leave the house or cause any trouble, and to make sure he was occupied.

"Psyche? Can I... Did Mama tell you to tell her if I used my quirk?"

The Pokemon shook her head, and reached out a graceful limb, resting it on his wild curls as the familiar fuzz of Telepathy passed through his mind.

_[No, she did not. I believe she understands that you need certain amounts of time to practice with it, in order to prevent it from activating unexpectedly, though she has not explicitly said anything of the matter to us.]_

Izuku bit his lip, glancing down at his body, the one that no longer felt completely his own. He wanted to see if the bad feelings would go away if he changed forms, even though he knew the bruises would remain, as he'd tested that before.

_[Why don't you find out?]_

The greenette nodded, and stood up from the couch, heading into the bathroom where a full-body mirror hung on the back of the door. Psyche followed him with silent footsteps, her hands clasped behind her back, and her dresslike body billowing in an unfelt breeze. The two of them knew that there was a window in the bathroom that could be climbed out of, and while her duties did not cover reporting Izuku's use of his quirk, she wasn't allowed to let him leave the house.

"Okay... I guess I'll go for female form first."

Izuku faced the mirror and closed his eyes, focusing on the familiar tingling sensation that signalled the activation of his quirk. It was on the surface of his skin, practically unnoticeable with how light it was, but it was always there. Thinking about it or trying to interact with it made it stronger, until it felt like his body was going numb, with the buzzing centered in his bones. At that point, he knew that he could shift, and the relatively minor pain of pins and needles would pass through him as he did so. Eventually the pain would fade, and she'd open her eyes, and gaze into her reflection.

Just as she did now.

_[How do you feel, Izuku?]_

The girl shrugged, her eyes focused on the looseness in her shirt that wasn't there before, and the tightness of her pants around her hips. It wasn't very noticeable while she was in her male form, but her Mama had given her clothes that were very much meant for boys to wear, so it was obvious when she shifted into her female form. Her shoulders were only a little bit narrower, and her hips were only a little bit wider, but it was still uncomfortable to wear misaligned clothing like this.

However, she did feel better than he did before.

"I feel a bit better now. Not perfect, because Mama has hurt me, but not as badly as Mama has hurt my male form. I wish he could stand up to her more, maybe throw an epic tantrum or something."

Izuku sometimes spoke of their other forms in the third person, regardless of which form they were in at the moment. It was easy to pretend that they were different people, to act differently in different forms, as though it were only the male Izuku that everyone loved to hate. However, they knew that wouldn't last for long, judging by how quickly Mama had grown to hate their female and neutral forms as well.

_[Would you like to try something else, or would you rather stay in this form for a while longer?]_

She hummed, tugging at the waistband of her pants a bit, and looked at herself in the mirror again. Psyche hovered behind her, facing the window, so as to allow Izuku the privacy she might need while still adhering to her mother's commands.

"I guess I'll try out my neutral form now. These clothes suck to wear as a girl."

The Gardevoir nodded, and Izuku closed her eyes once more, focusing on that tingling feeling coursing through her. It rose and fell, numbness and pain, and then they opened their eyes once more.

This was a form that nobody had physically touched in a hurtful way; a form that had only the memories of his and her pain to contend with, and the delight of clear-headed learning. They could easily distance themself from the fear of their other forms, and instead focus on a feeling of contentment and safety. They were something that only existed when nobody was going to harm them... they were the Izuku that was free.

Izuku smiled at their reflection, and rolled their shoulders, feeling their slightly tighter shirt settle in a semi-comfortable position. Their pants no longer tried to cut off their circulation, but rested snugly around their waist, just a little bit tighter than they would be if they were in their male form.

_[You feel... happier now. I suppose I don't need to ask you what form you most prefer.]_

They nodded, and looked at themself in the mirror a little bit more, before opening the door and heading into the hallway. Psyche turned around and followed them, as they made their way into the kitchen for a snack, wanting to satisfy some of the hunger that they'd felt in all three of their forms. This was something they'd noticed in previous shifts- that their physical condition would remain the same, regardless of which form they were in. 

Maybe if they were careful about it, they'd be able to stay in this form for entire days without alerting anybody. They'd have to learn how to shift faster though, so they could shift back the moment it looked as though they'd get caught. Right now, the time their shifts took on average was ten seconds, and that was too long for comfort. Oh, and they'd have to figure out bathroom business... it wasn't like they could stand up to go in this form or their female form, so they'd probably have to pretend that they were crapping a lot.

There were plans to be made, details to contemplate, and loopholes to discover. The small Izuku had a lot on their plate to deal with, and if they wanted any chance of being successful in their ventures, they'd have to go about things carefully.

Slow and steady, the race would be won.

* * *

They shouldn't have pushed their luck.

There was a new kid at school, and he was named Todoroki Shouto. He had a powerful quirk like Kacchan, one of glowing fire and shimmering ice, and he was calmer than most of the other kids. Izuku wanted to know what he was like, so he'd gone over to talk to him while everyone else was occupied, and had asked him about his quirk. The discussion had gone from there, from his Half-Cold, Half-Hot to Izuku's Gender Shift, and he'd volunteered to show it to him.

This was a loophole. When Mama had first told him not to use his quirk at school, she'd specifically mentioned that she didn't want 'people at that school _right now_ ' to know about his quirk, and Shouto was new. He hadn't been at the school right then, but he was today, so Izuku could finally show off his quirk without disobeying his Mama.

And so, he did. And then, Shouto had told her what he thought of it, and she'd been so delighted by this turn of events that she'd forgotten to switch back. She'd remained in her female form for the rest of the school day, and had returned home, and everything had gone downhill from there.

The first thing Mama had done was hit her, repeatedly, until she finally understood the wordless command and had shifted back into male form. Then he'd been taken to his room, locked in there for the rest of the day, and no dinner was given to him. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, one of his All Might posters was missing.

"Look on the table, Izuku. This is your punishment for disobeying me in such a flagrant manner."

He looked, and there it was. His poster, torn to shreds and partially burned to ash, sitting in a small plastic baggie... but that wasn't all. He didn't cry only because it had been an All Might poster, but because it had been one of the only posters he'd gotten from his Papa before he'd gone to work overseas. It was one of the only things Izuku had left of him, after Mama's grief-induced purge of everything else, besides the freckles on his face and the striking intelligence that most other kids didn't possess.

There weren't even any pictures of the man left. He couldn't remember what Papa looked like, most of the time, and he was beginning to forget his voice. One of the only things he still remembered clearly was the man's handwriting, because it was located on the backs of every poster he'd been given by him, and now one of those remnants had been destroyed.

"No more shifting where other people can see it, Izuku. From now on, whenever I find out that you've disobeyed this order, I'll destroy another one of his presents to you. I know that you still love him, but I don't anymore, so it'll hurt you far more than it'll hurt me. Understood?"

The greenette nodded, and slowly gathered the baggie of destroyed memories, before shuffling back to his room. He couldn't risk losing anything else of his Papa, because he didn't want to forget him. He didn't want to be left wondering after a man who was little more than a ghost, and he didn't want to forget the crooked shape of his smile, and he didn't want to forget how he spoke about the things he enjoyed. 

There was more to be lost from a father that had once been known, than from a father who had never been known, and Izuku still had too much to lose. So, he'd have to obey his Mama, and that was that. He had no questions, so class was over. He'd learned what had been taught to him.

Midoriya Izuku had to obey his Mama, and if he failed to do so, she would be merciless in bringing him back under her control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D


	3. Something Old And Something New

"Izuku, come here. I have someone to show to you."

Izuku blinked, and left his room, quietly making his way through the house to where his Mama's voice had come from. He didn't like to draw attention to himself anymore, as doing so usually resulted in pain, but he was actively being summoned. He couldn't avoid her, or ignore her, or she would end up angrier with him than she would be if he'd just obeyed immediately.

The greenette entered the living room, and there he saw his Mama, with another Pokemon from her team. He knew this Pokemon of hers; the one that used to scare him when he was smaller... Gothitelle.

"You remember Vitae, don't you?"

He wasn't scared of her because of how she looked, but because of what she told him. She told him things that he didn't want to know, like whenever bad things were going to happen, and she wouldn't let him leave until she was done. Her hidden Shadow Tag ability kept him from escaping, for as long as she was engaged with him.

"Vitae will be here while I'm out of the house from now on. She'll be keeping an eye on you, so be sure that you don't make any mistakes."

Izuku bit his lip, looking away from the Gothitelle for one moment to look at his Mama's face- he didn't meet her eyes, though, she didn't like it when he looked her in the eyes.

"Mistakes?"

Inko nodded, her lips curved into a pleasant smile.

"Yes, dear. You've had two years to get control over your quirk now, so you shouldn't be 'accidentally' using it anymore. Plus, you know the rules of the house. Breaking one of them would also be a mistake."

Ah... he understood. Vitae was going to be keeping close to him, acting as his Mama's spy and watchdog. She'd tell her whenever he messed up in front of her, and if he couldn't escape from her, he'd _always_ be in front of her.

"O-Okay Mama..."

The safety of his room was no longer sounding so safe anymore.

* * *

Izuku stared, left and right and all around, as he was led into the Todoroki home.

It was his first time visiting, and the only person in the family that he knew personally was Shouto, and he was a little bit scared that he was going to get in trouble just by being there. The atmosphere was so warm and welcoming, like his own home used to be before he'd gotten his quirk, and he couldn't help but wonder if it would change once his presence was revealed to them.

"We have plenty of spare house slippers, as we often receive guests. They're in the small closet there- look for a size that fits you."

The six year old nodded, and peered into the closet for the slippers. The smaller pairs were closer to the bottom, and after finding his size, he discovered that he'd needed one of the smallest pairs available. This made sense to him, kind of, with what he'd read online about a lack of food causing people to stay smaller for longer. It was called 'malnourishment,' and while he didn't think he missed enough meals to be suffering any more of the effects, he was denied food often enough that he was well familiar with the sensation of hunger.

Leaving his outdoor shoes beside Shouto's, Izuku made to follow his friend, quietly and nervously.

"Cuz it's your first time here, Mom said that I should show you the most important parts of the house. So on our left is the sitting room, and on our right is the dining hall, located close to the front of the house for entertaining guests in. These are the boring parts, really."

Izuku looked into the luxurious sitting room and the elegant dining hall as they were pointed out to him, and couldn't help but widen his eyes, wondering what the rest of the house looked like if these were the boring parts.

"And here's the front bathroom. Guest rooms are down the hall to the left, and the rest of the house is down the hall to the right. We're going to the right."

The boy led on, and the greenette followed, his hands clasped before him. He didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet and listened, shifting his fingers between one another in a simple, soothing motion.

"Here's the kitchen. Mom likes to have warm tea available at all times, so if we end up taking the last of it, we'll have to let her know. There's also a bunch of snacks in the cabinets furthest away from the fridge, so if you want anything, just go right ahead and grab something or let me know and I'll grab something for you."

The kitchen was nice, cleaner and prettier than his own, but significantly less fancy than the sitting room and dining hall had been. It seemed that in private, the Todoroki family was more modest... he wondered where they all were.

"Here's our lounge-slash-entertainment room. Dad says that it's not really a lounge because it's more fun and not so stuffy, but Mom says that lounging is what we do in there, so they left it up to us to decide what it's called. I like to call it the entertainment lounge, while Natsuo-nii likes to call it the lounge-y entertainment room, and Fuyumi-nee agrees with Mom, and Touya-nii just calls it whatever will cause the most chaos at the time."

The sounds of someone playing an FPS came from inside, and the two boys stepped in to see who it was. Izuku saw a tall teen with red hair and some purplish scars on his arms sitting in a beanbag chair, which was something he'd only seen in advertisements. As the teen died, he swore liberally, and abruptly froze when Shouto snickered at the language.

"Heeeey," the redhead slowly turned, smiling at the two of them like a kid caught in the cookie jar, "what brings you to the electric boogalounge?"

Izuku giggled a bit at the name, and figured that this was Touya, as his friend beside him facepalmed.

"Oh my gosh," Shouto whispered, sounding completely done. "Izu, ignore him. Let's keep going. The others are probably in the backyard or in the library or something."

They had an entire _library_ in their house? On top of everything else? Could he just live with them, please? He'd be so much _happier_ if he had a bunch of books to shove his face into, even if he was ignored all the time.

Shouto pulled the partially-daydreaming Izuku out of the room, and neither of them noticed Touya watching them as they went, a curious expression on his face. 

"Okay, I guess I'll show you the library next. It's past the doors to the backyard and Mom's garden, and Dad's study, so we might see them before we see Fuyumi-nee and Natsuo-nii."

The greenette nodded, and continued following along, as his friend led him around the corner and down the next hall. There was another door to the entertainment lounge to their left, but Shouto ignored it, moving to open the door to the right. A beautiful array of flowers and bushes met Izuku's eyes, and he gazed around the small garden with wide eyes, causing his friend to smirk a little.

"Almost everyone is impressed by the garden. It starts here, but it goes around the entire property, surrounding and making up some of the Pokemon enclosures we have here. Mom says that it's a lot of work, but also relaxing, which is kind of weird."

He shrugged, and Izuku shrugged back, though he had some idea of how it could be relaxing. His Mama had him do most of the chores in the house while she was at work, and although it had been boring at first, he'd come to realize that it was better than having to do... other things. So he thought really hard about how much he enjoyed doing the chores while he was doing them, and he started playing little games and setting challenges for himself in them, and soon they became one of the better parts of his days.

He knew that it was weird to like doing chores though, because every time he heard the kids at school talking about it, they always expressed disgust and unhappiness. They also laughed at one of the kids who said that she liked dusting because it made her feel like a fairy, so he took that as his warning to keep quiet on the matter, unless he actually wanted to make his classmates think that he was weirder than he already was.

As Shouto closed the doors and continued on, Izuku followed, still as quiet as possible.

"This is Dad's study. He does his paperwork in here, and there's a door in the back leading to the training halls, which are in the middle of the house."

The bichromatic-haired boy knocked on the door, and a deep voice responded, "come in." Shouto glanced at him, and then continued on to open the door, leading him a few steps into the comfortable-feeling room.

Then Izuku saw the face of Endeavor, outright _squeaked_ , and hid behind his slightly taller friend.

It was scary- the hero looked like he was a school principal about to chew out his most troublesome students, or like he was one of those dogs that always had warning signs like 'beware of dog' and 'do not pet'. The expression on his face reminded him of the expression that appeared on his Mama's face when he'd made a _mistake_ and was going to be punished for it.

"...Izuku?"

The confused voice of his friend brought him slightly out of his thoughts, and he realized that he'd just hidden himself from a _hero_. That was... not really a good thing. What if he thought he was a criminal? He probably looked really guilty of something bad now, and going to jail would make Mama even _angrier_ with him-

A rumbling chuckle came from the man behind the desk, and from what Izuku could tell, it sounded more amused than anything else. That made him relax a little, for all that the fear of a six year old was being found entertaining.

"A lot of children are spooked the first time they see me, so I shouldn't be surprised that the same goes for the shy little friend my son has told us about. Shouto, go on and continue giving him the tour, then bring him back here when you're done."

He felt his friend nod, and the two awkwardly shuffled back out of the study, leaving a pair of observant blue eyes behind.

"Okay... next up is the library." There was still a slight undertone of confusion to Shouto's voice, but it faded by the time he got to the words, "follow me."

Izuku followed him, as he had been all along, and the two made their way to the library. It was down the hall from Endeavor's study, around the corner, and to the right. There was another open door further down this new hallway that also led into the library, as evidenced by the bookshelf that he could see through the doorway, and such a sight caused his eyes to widen further than they had thus far. That was a long distance, and it was only one wall, and the perpendicular wall could potentially be even longer. That sort of space, being filled with books... He couldn't help but push the door open before his friend could, bouncing as he stepped in to look around.

And then, suddenly, he was soaking wet.

The greenette sputtered, reaching up to wipe the water from his eyes as something metallic collided with the wooden floor, and a mixture of whispers and laughter broke out deeper in the room. When he opened his eyes, he saw an older boy with white hair draped over the side of a couch, crowing with absolute delight as he attempted to fend off the pillow assault from a girl who looked to be about the same age as him. The girl was whacking away, chastising her brother in furious whispers between hits.

"Natsu, you absolute walnut, you dunked Shouchan's _friend_! I can't believe you've done this!"

Izuku looked down, and saw a bucket slowly roll to a stop, and then he looked up. There was a small, collapsed ledge with a piece of string attached to it, and the other end of the string was tied to the doorknob, indicating how the bucket prank had worked even though the door had been completely closed to start. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry! Look at him, he looks like a drenched kitten! I ain't even mad I missed Touya!"

Once again, Shouto facepalmed beside him, before holding out his left hand to dry Izuku off with his quirk.

"Well Izuku, as you can see, these are my siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo. Something to watch out for is Natsuo and Touya's prank wars, which somehow _never_ hit their intended targets, and _always_ end up with collateral damage."

As Natsuo kept laughing, and Fuyumi continued chastising him, the greenette found himself smiling. 

There really was such a warm atmosphere in this house, and he could tell now that it came from the occupants, rather than the Pokemon he'd caught glimpses of outside and on the way in. Though he hadn't yet seen Shouto's mother, and though Endeavor did scare him a bit, he knew that there was a lot of happiness here. It made him want to use his quirk, to shift into his neutral form so he could be happier too...

Well, it wasn't like any of them would notice. This was his first time meeting them, after all, so any little differences could be explained away as simply not knowing him well. Plus, his Mama had no reach here- she wouldn't find out that he'd disobeyed her, and she wouldn't punish him because she didn't know. Therefore, he closed his eyes and gave into the urge, smiling wider when the shift was complete.

Their time was down to five seconds, from the ten it had been when they'd first started speed training.

"Do they use water pranks a lot?" They asked their friend, enjoying the warmth from his fire side. "I imagine that those would be really easy to clean up, with the fire and ice quirks everyone has."

The bichromatic-haired boy glanced at the water on the floor, and shrugged. "Yeah, but sometimes Natsuo-nii forgets to clean up the water from his pranks, and they're banned from using water for a while because it causes damage when left to sit."

On the couch, Fuyumi finally stopped hitting Natsuo with her chosen weapon of a throw pillow, and pointed to the puddle. The older boy had heard what Shouto said, and took the hint that his sister was giving him, getting up and heading off to retrieve something to clean up his mess. His laughter died down, but amused chuckles remained, echoing behind him even after he'd gone out of sight.

Once Izuku was dried off, they were led deeper into the library, where the shelves were labelled by genre and alphabetical order. It was beautiful, each shelf filled with so many new things to see and learn, and it was all they could do to hold themself back. There was more of the house to be seen, after all, and there were also the Pokemon enclosures that he could see through the window...

The greenette did their best to ignore the pang of sadness they felt at the knowledge that they'd have to go home after this, and tried to focus on the present, knowing that they might not get a chance to experience this again anytime soon. Inko didn't want them getting too close to the Todoroki family, and they couldn't disobey her.

Still... they would enjoy this visit, and when things got bad at home, they'd remember the happiness that existed here.


	4. Reading The Signs

"Izuku, it's time to go to the Aura Reader. Hurry up already."

Having just turned seven years old, the greenette was now of age to have his aura checked and his affinities identified. What were affinities? Well, they were the Pokemon types that a person was most inclined towards, the types that a person would forge deeper bonds with than all others. With how distant his Mama had been lately though, he hadn't been sure whether or not he'd get to find out what his were right away, so it was a bit of a surprise for her to spring it on him like this.

"C-Coming, Mama!"

The boy hurriedly hid away the girl clothes his friends had gotten him for his birthday- just two outfits, a pretty sundress and jacket from Shouchan, and a more punkish skirt and tank top from Kacchan- and came bounding out of his room, rushing to remove his house slippers and replace them with his outdoor shoes. His mother stood over him, keys and purse in hand, and stared down at him with a relatively neutral displeasure as he kept her waiting.

She opened the door as soon as he had his second shoe on, not even waiting for him to tie it, and he rushed out into the hallway to finish up while she locked the door behind them. Psyche, ever attuned to the emotions of her trainer, acted more coldly to Izuku than she did when they were alone.

_[You'd best hope that your affinities align with her desires, Izuku...]_

With that warning to keep in mind, the two humans and one Pokemon moved forward, off to discover the type affinities of a rather nervous Izuku.

* * *

"Alright then, just step on into the scanner and we'll do the rest!"

Izuku licked his lips nervously, feeling his skin tingle with his desire to hide, but he distracted himself by counting the number of footsteps it took for him to move across the room and comply with the order given to him. It took thirteen steps- a number considered unlucky by many, due to its negative association with the supernatural- for him to enter the scanning chamber from where he'd previously been standing by the door.

With a soft _click_ , the chamber door closed behind him, and a cheerful series of colored lights came on.

_'Most kids are probably scared when they try this out. I understand, it's a small space, and it's dark at first, but it's still safe. Nobody can see you through the door.'_

Izuku licked his lips, still feeling his skin tingle, and watched as the colored lights moved along the walls around him. There were eighteen of them, one for every type, and one by one, the lights went out. First it was the light for Dark type that went out, and then it was the light for Bug type, and then it was the light for Fighting type. Those were the types that he was most weak to, the types that he'd have difficulty commanding no matter how close of a bond he forged with them... so what types were weak to them?

Psychic was weak to both Dark and Bug types, but it wasn't weak to Fighting type, instead doing quite well against them. Therefore, the Fighting weakness had to come from another type. It couldn't be Dark, because that was already out, but it could be Steel, Rock, Ice, or Normal. Of course, there was the possibility that one of the Dark or Bug weaknesses came from a type other than Psychic, so what were his options? Dark was eliminated once more, so it was either Ghost or Grass, if it wasn't Psychic...

The greenette knew that his mother had a primary affinity for the Psychic type, and a secondary affinity for the Grass type. Typically, people had two secondary affinities, but she'd inherited the primary type from one of her parents. This occurrence either resulted in the child having two affinities, with the primary being more powerful than other trainers with the same primary, or it resulted in both secondaries taking more after the other parent's affinities.

In addition, while primary affinities were influenced by those of the child's parents, they were also influenced by the child's developing personality. This could mean that children had completely different primary affinities than the rest of their family, and sometimes, depending on the type, it caused a rift between them. Certain types were seen as evil, as conniving, as cowardly... and nobody wanted to be associated with people of those types.

Psyche's warning rang through his mind. She knew things about his Mama that he would never be able to understand, being connected so closely with her and knowing her thoughts and emotions, so she knew what was going to happen if Izuku failed to bring home satisfactory results. It had to be bad, if the Gardevoir was warning him with her trainer right beside them. It had to be bad, it would be bad, if he didn't somehow make up for his quirk being what it was...

As the greenette looked up again, he noticed that more of the lights had gone out, leaving only six left. The lights remaining represented the types of Ghost, Rock, Psychic, Poison, Grass, and Normal, indicating that one of these types was his primary affinity and at least one of them was his secondary. His mother had a primary affinity for Psychic types and a secondary affinity for Grass types, which gave him hope that he would be the same. She couldn't be mad if he had the same affinities she did. She couldn't punish him for being like her.

_'Okay, think about it again. The Dark weakness applies to the Ghost and Psychic types, the Bug weakness applies to the Psychic and Grass types, and the Fighting weakness applies to the Rock and Normal types. The first weakness that shows up is the strongest weakness a person has, meaning that my primary affinity is either Ghost or Psychic. The next weaknesses apply to the secondary types, meaning that my secondaries are two of the Psychic, Poison, Grass, Rock, and Normal types...'_

He could eliminate Rock from his list of potential secondaries. If it had been a secondary, then the Grass type icon would've gone out... and he could eliminate Grass for the same reason, as the Poison light would've gone out as well. The only way he could have a type and its weakness lit up at the same time would be if they were both secondaries, and the thing about secondary affinities was that they were typically influenced by the primary types of one's parents. His Mama didn't have a primary affinity for any of those three types, therefore those two shouldn't be his secondaries.

_'That leaves Psychic, Poison, and Normal as potential secondaries, with Ghost and Psychic as potential primaries. I might end up with only two affinities like Mama. Oh, the Fighting weakness- the only type left that's weak to it is Normal type, so I have to have a Normal secondary affinity. Weird, but I guess that's Papa's primary. So then there's the weakness that Poison has to Psychic, but both of them are possibilities... I could have a Psychic primary like Mama, and so both of my secondaries would take after Papa's affinities. If Papa had a Poison affinity, then that would explain it. But there's also the possibility that I'm a Ghost primary, in which case Psychic would definitely be my other secondary... I hope Mama doesn't get mad...'_

As Izuku pondered the possibilities between the six lights that had remained lit before him, the doctor behind the scanner had continued testing for concrete results. One by one, each light shone brighter before returning to normal, and one by one, lights that weren't of his types were eliminated. In just a few moments, all that remained were the lights representing the Ghost, Psychic, Poison, and Normal types... and everyone observed to see which of them would go out.

One final light clicked off abruptly, and the greenette was left with his affinities. Distressed mumbling came from outside of the scanner, his Mama asking the doctor if he was sure the results were accurate, but he knew that they were. There hadn't been a mistaken reading for the past fifty years, so there was no doubt that these were his types.

Midoriya Izuku was a primary Ghost type, with the secondaries of Psychic and Normal, and the warning Psyche had given him echoed through his thoughts once more.

* * *

For the first time in Izuku's life, Mama put her Pokemon away at home.

He should've recognized that for the sign it was, that she was going to do something that she didn't want her Pokemon to even sense the effects of. He should've known that the concerned glance Psyche had given him meant that he was in for pain like he'd never felt before. He should've figured it out, but he didn't.

He was taken off guard by a hand grabbing his shirt, yanking him to the floor in front of the couch, and holding him down.

He was too startled to cry when the first blow landed, but the second blow made him scream, and he couldn't escape no matter how much he kicked and squirmed.

Blow after blow landed, his Mama screaming at him for being an abomination, for being a coward, for being the reason that Hisashi had left to work overseas. She screamed over him, declaring her intent to beat the Ghost out of him for all the empty house to hear, to beat his terrible quirk and his terrible affinity out of existence. He screamed, she screamed, they screamed so loudly that _somebody_ had to have heard it...

But nobody came to save him.

Izuku drew upon his quirk, keeping it active so his body would go numb. Blow after blow, he slowly got used acclimated to the situation he was in, but he kept crying. He kept shrieking with every hit, because he feared what his Mama would do if she found out that he wasn't as hurt as she wanted him to be. He feared what else she'd destroy if she couldn't destroy him, so he let her destroy him, placing the value of his memories over that of himself...

His Mama pulled him up to his feet when she was done, took off his shirt to check his injuries, and sent him to his room when she concluded that he was mostly fine. Even if he felt like he was dying, he couldn't argue with her assessment, so off he went to cry into his pillow. There was nothing else he could do. Nobody would believe him if he said that the kind Midoriya Inko was the one who hurt him like this.

"I'm sorry, Mama..."

The greenette curled up, staring at the pale purple bruises on his skin, at the color that matched his primary type. He didn't know how long he held himself in that numbing state of fluctuation, but his body _ached_ when he let up, and he couldn't breathe until he reactivated his quirk.

"I'm sorry..."

Izuku clenched his fists, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, struggling to breathe through the pain.

* * *

Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto had their eyes on Izuku.

They knew that something was wrong, with how quiet the greenette had gotten. They knew that he was in pain, with the cuts and bruises they saw when he was changing for gym. They knew that he wasn't happy anymore, with how he'd keep his mouth shut even on the topics that had excited him most in the past... but they didn't know how to handle it.

Katsuki, eight years old, and Shouto, still seven years old but turning eight in just a few months, each made separate decisions to take these issues to their parents. They didn't know what to do by themselves, so they would turn to the people who would. 

Bakugou Masaru would know what to do. 

Todoroki Rei would know what to do.

"Katsuki, I want you to take this phone. With it, I'm giving you a big responsibility- I want you to take pictures of Izuku's injuries, when you can. Try not to be obvious about it, but make sure you get them somehow. In the future, these photos could be the evidence that saves Izuku's life."

The spiky blonde nodded, and went to his bedroom with his new phone, exploring the settings and making shortcuts to the apps that would be the most important to his mission. He didn't care about the nerd as much as he used to, but he'd be pretty shitty hero if he didn't at least try to help him.

"Oh dear... Shouto, the next time you see new injuries on your friend, bring him back home with you, okay? Your father and I will help him."

The boy with bichromatic hair nodded, and watched his mother leave the room. He followed her down the hall to his father's study, and listened as his parents discussed the situation. Todoroki Enji was a hero, the number two hero Endeavor, and he'd be able to save the people that Shouto couldn't yet. He'd be able to save Izuku.

From that day on, Bakugou Katsuki somehow always had his new phone on hand whenever it was time for gym, and developed a habit of taking selfies with Izuku and the other kids.

From that day on, Todoroki Shouto kept an eye out for new injuries, and whisked Izuku to safety after school each day he found one.


	5. Isolation

Mama hurt him regularly now.

Whereas before, it had only been when he'd made a mistake, now she also hit him when she felt like it. If she'd had a bad day at work, he'd be punished. If she thought he wasn't doing his chores fast enough, he'd be punished. If he stayed in the room for too long with her, or left the room too quickly for her liking, he'd be punished.

He learned to read her body language, and the subtle expressions she made, out of self-preservation. He learned when to duck his head and make himself invisible, and he learned when to smile and pretend that he was her innocent baby boy, and he learned when to speak with pleading tones and tearful eyes. He learned more about his mother's behavioral habits than she probably knew herself, and most importantly, he learned how to avoid drawing her attention.

Sometimes he heard her talking to her Pokemon in her bedroom. Vitae watched him, wherever he was at the time, and Psyche kept his mother company. The Gardevoir tried to help him without directly disobeying her orders, because she could feel how much he was hurting, though she could never disobey her trainer.

None of them could ever disobey Inko, each for their own reasons.

Izuku was eight years old, and he knew that he had to get away from his Mama if he wanted to be happy. He had to get away from her if he wanted to be safe... but he didn't know what would happen if he ran.

If the police found him, a runaway, they'd return him to Inko and he'd be punished. Same thing if a hero found him, because no hero had come to save him yet. They'd probably just assume that he was lost or something, and ignore him if he said that he needed help to stay away from Mama. The teachers at school had ignored him, and one of them had even threatened to call his Mama if he kept telling those lies to them, so he had to keep quiet. He couldn't trust the adults to help him.

He might be able to get help from Kacchan or Shouchan, but they were all kids, and they wouldn't be able to keep things up for long. One of them would make a mistake somewhere, and as much as he trusted his friends, he knew that they wouldn't be able to keep the situation from their parents for long. Auntie Mitsuki was his Mama's best friend, and would surely tell on him when she found out, so he couldn't go to Kacchan. Endeavor was literally the number two hero, and it would be his job to return Izuku to his Mama, so he couldn't go to Shouchan either.

The greenette didn't know how, or when, or if he would be able to escape. There was no plan in his mind that felt safe enough to try, and there was no person safe enough to ask for help from. He was on his own...

All he could do was keep trying to survive, and hope that he grew strong enough to not hurt so much anymore.

* * *

Izuku was at Kacchan's house again, curled up beside the boy and his sleeping Torchic. It was late at night, long after his friend had fallen asleep, and long after he himself should've fallen asleep as well. He just... couldn't.

He knew that this was a chance to figure out whether his fears of asking for help from the Bakugou family were founded or not. Thus, he forced himself to stay awake, and listened through the vents to the conversation that his Auntie and Uncle were having in the adjacent room.

"Really, it's not that fucking bad. Every kid needs a different style of parenting, and you know how firm we have to be with Katsuki. Maybe Izuku is wild enough at home that he needs more physical guidance too. People always say that the way kids act at home is opposite to how they act in public."

That was Auntie Mitsuki. She was Mama's best friend, so of course she'd defend her- he couldn't dislike her for her loyalty.

"He flinched when I raised my hand to grab my cup off of the table, Suki. Our son has never flinched like that, because he doesn't fear us like that. Izuku is afraid of getting hit, and he gets all those new bruises every so often, and he's such a quiet little thing these days. You need- we need to at least _consider_ the possibility that he's being abused."

Uncle Masaru was the main reason that Izuku was still wondering if he could get help from Kacchan's family. He was smart, he saw things that others missed, and he wanted to help him. It was no small undertaking to change Mistuki's mind once she'd made it up though, and more often than not, he was the one who let things go in order to keep the peace.

"Isn't it more likely that he's getting bullied at school? The only children who know about his quirk are Katsuki and the Todoroki kid, and all the rest of them apparently think he's quirkless, so obviously they'd be targeting him. I don't get why Inko and Izuku aren't telling anyone about it, but I'd fucking bet that the day those kids find out he has a quirk, the cuts and scrapes and bruises will stop showing up. Or maybe he's just really clumsy, I don't know!"

...case in point.

"Yes, it's very likely that he's being bullied, but the teachers would be taking care of that. Therefore, it makes more sense that Inko is the one hurting him, considering that he is almost never anywhere but at the school or at his house. She's admitted to our faces that she doesn't like people with 'unnatural' quirks or stereotypically 'evil' affinities, and he just so happens to have both. Not to mention, Katsuki always sends us those pictures in the mornings, meaning that Izuku's injuries were most likely inflicted the day before."

As Mitsuki released a frustrated growl, the greenette turned to look at his sleeping friend, and then to the phone that was charging on his dresser. 

Izuku had thought that it was a bit weird for Kacchan to insist on taking selfies with him, but now that he had an idea of why he was doing it, he could appreciate the intelligence behind it. Everyone knew that Bakugou Katsuki had a sizeable ego, and everyone knew that he was somewhat vain, so of course nobody would question the selfies he took with his new phone. Everyone knew that he liked to be the best, and everyone knew that he liked to make it clear he was the best by standing next to a bunch of losers, so of course he'd take selfies with the quirkless kid. It was really very clever, and it gave him an excuse to take pictures of Izuku's injuries whenever he wanted to.

He probably didn't think to do so on his own, though, as he didn't seem completely aware of the situation that Izuku was in. So, it was probably Uncle Masaru who had given him the idea, and it was Uncle Masaru collecting evidence for the future. Auntie Mitsuki was obviously aware of it, but she didn't want to point the finger at her best friend just yet, so nothing was being done outside of that.

"Suki, dear, how about we try to figure it out in a more productive way? We both have vacation days saved up, and we wanted to take Katsuki sightseeing anyways, so we could invite Izuku to come with us. If he's just as injured when we get back as when we go, then we'll know that he's just clumsy. If he's not injured, and Inko has no access to him during the trip at all, then we'll know that she's the cause of his pain-"

The greenette listened as Mitsuki cut Masaru off, frowning to himself. It was clear, the man was trying, but...

"No, that won't be necessary. Do you know why? Because Inko is not a child abuser. She can't even bring herself to kill the spiders in her house, she just scoops them up and brings them outside. She is nice and sweet and she's a _doctor_ for Kami's sake! Inko would never be able to hurt her son. And even if _somehow_ , for _some reason_ , she did end up doing so, then she would've at least hidden it better."

...Mitsuki really was too loyal.

"We can have Katsuki keep sending us those pictures, but we have to look at the school and elsewhere. Inko is innocent, that is final, and I am done with entertaining the thought that she's anything but. Got that?"

The conversation ended there, with a resigned, "yes dear," from Masaru. 

So, that was it... Izuku had gotten his answer. He couldn't go to the Bakugou family for help; not as long as Mitsuki remained firm on her stance. He was right to fear the repercussions, as there was now little doubt that anything he said would get back to his Mama, and she would punish him the next time they were alone. It was clear, so very clear...

_'I am alone.'_

Quietly, the greenette made his way back into the bed with Kacchan and his Torchic, and moved in towards the warmth they had. He couldn't stop the tears from crawling down his cheeks, but he could try to find comfort in the time he had away from his Mama. He could try to focus on the present, rather than on the dangerous future, and do his best to enjoy what little peace he could find.

Taking a deep breath, Midoriya Izuku pressed himself up against the tiny sphere of safety that Kacchan emitted, and closed his eyes to sleep.

* * *

"Ah, Izuku! There's my little boy!"

Inko smiled at him, and beckoned him over, sugary sweet and dangerous as could be. This was one of her moods- specifically, the one where she wanted him to be her baby again, even if it was only pretend. She wanted him to be small and innocent and untouched by the pain of the world, untainted by his quirk and his primary affinity... and judging by the papers and crayons on the table, it was time for him to receive another lesson.

"Mama! Are we gonna play a game again?"

The somewhat underdeveloped boy made sure to pitch his voice a little bit higher, and to keep his fear out of it. For good measure, he also tilted his head cutely to the side, watching the green-haired woman with wide, curious eyes.

"No, but we're going to be doing something even better! Come on, sit down on the other side of the table!"

Izuku did as she said, keeping a bright and innocent smile on his face, and made grabby-hands at the crayons and paper. She found this particular action to be adorable, and it satisfied her a bit, to know she had something that he couldn't acquire on his own.

After some teasing, responded to with the appropriate amount of childish whining, he was finally given the art supplies. He began to draw a picture of Inko and her Pokemon, something that he did during every session, in a deliberately messy and disproportionate style.

"Today we're going to talk about Litwick, and why you should always avoid it. Now tell me, what do you know about Litwicks already?"

It was going to be one of _those_ lessons, it seemed.

"They're a dual-type Pokemon, Ghost and Fire, and they're called the Candle Pokemon. Their open abilities are Flash Fire and Flame Body, and their hidden abilities are Infiltrator and Shadow Tag. They can use up to nine different types of moves, depending on how they're bred, what moves are taught to them by move tutors, and what moves are taught to them by Technical Machines."

Izuku kept his eyes on the paper as his mother clapped in a patronizing manner, and tried to ignore the parasitic warmth that passed through him at her following praise.

"Such a smart Izuku you are! But you've forgotten something important, haven't you? You know their stats, their basic information, but you don't know what they're really like. Don't worry dear, Mama's gonna teach you everything you don't know."

He glanced up once, just a quick peek, and saw Inko rummaging through her purse for her Pokedex. It was technically illegal for someone without a trainer card to access one, but that law was widely ignored on private property, as parents and older siblings let younger children look through them for ideas on starters and head starts in their journeys. This was the case for Izuku as well, as he had some faint memories of looking through her Pokedex while being carried in her arms; memories from before he had gotten his quirk.

"See, Litwick is actually a very _dangerous_ Pokemon to have around. Multiple entries in the Pokedex warn about how Litwicks pretend to be guides, shining their lights for all the world to see, while _absorbing and burning the life energy of other living beings_. They lure people in, pretending to be friendly, and then kill them while their back is turned. That's the Ghost type in them- it makes them feed off of things that they have no right to be touching, and when they can't get their fuel up front, they steal it without you even being aware. I feel bad for all the Fire type trainers out there who have to deal with sneaky, cowardly Pokemon like this one on their teams."

Izuku nodded to show that he was listening, while trying his best to not break character. She gave him these lessons to try to encourage his primary affinity to change, to give him logical reasons to try to change it, as though that would help. She also taught him that he would never be loved the way that he was, tearing him down piece by piece, as she tore down each of the Pokemon that he might want to be his starter. Though, that should've been obvious from the day he'd gotten his quirk, shouldn't it have been?

"Do you understand why Litwicks are dangerous now, Izuku?"

He nodded again, and upon catching the slight warning in her tone, responded with a voice that was quietly chastised. "Yes Mama, I understand. Ghost type Pokemon are dangerous and scary, and should always be avoided."

The next time he peeked up at her face, she was smiling. He'd been successful in his attempts at keeping her happy, but he couldn't afford to relax until he was out of sight. He had to stay on guard. It was only for a little while longer.

It was only for a little while longer...


	6. Breaking Point

So, Midoriya Izuku knew their affinities.

They were a Ghost primary, and a Psychic secondary. On official papers, they'd also mention their Normal secondary, but the Normal type was left out of most informal introductions. Everyone had a tertiary affinity for the Normal type, after all, which meant that Normal secondaries weren't as special as other secondaries. Normal types got along with everyone.

Maybe it would have been better if they'd been a Normal primary.

Trainers of the Ghost type were considered scary, intimidating, as though they knew all of the secrets in the world and yet nobody could figure out how they'd gotten their information. They were also considered cowardly, lurking in the corners of the room and avoiding direct confrontation. An air of mystery followed them wherever they went, and those who succumbed to curiosity in their presence would inevitably come to regret it.

The only type with a worse reputation was the Dark type. Trainers of a Dark primary were regarded to be ambitious creatures, willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals, leaving morality behind... the only time in which a Ghost trainer would widely be considered an ally would be in battle against a Dark trainer.

Shouchan was a Dark primary, and he understood the fear that others felt for them. He understood the hardship, but he still didn't have it so bad, being the son of the number two hero. People would almost always make way for their greed, after all, and so he had 'friends' in abundance.

Kacchan also had friends in abundance, though his were just a little more genuine than Shouchan's. His primary affinity was for Fire, one of the most heroic types out there, and paired with his quirk it was obvious where he was going to end up. Even though they were still only in primary school, it was obvious that Kacchan would be going to a hero high school, where he'd learn and become one of the greatest heroes in the world.

If they had a heroic primary, then maybe the people around them wouldn't treat them so terribly.

If they had a quirk that they were allowed to show off to the world, then maybe the people around them would believe in them more.

Regardless, not only was Izuku seen as quirkless, but they were also falling behind in terms of Pokemon now. Inko refused to get them a starter until their primary had changed to something more acceptable, and while a trainer's affinities could sometimes change after a life-changing event, it was an extremely rare thing. It would be easier to find a True Legendary than it would be to change one's affinities... and it had already been two years.

Roughly half of the kids in class had already gotten their starters, along with their bronze trainer cards, which showcased their new permission to have registered Pokemon. As they grew older and accomplished more things, they'd be able to register more Pokemon and have more out at one time. It was a sight that filled Izuku with envy, but they did their best to curb that emotion- it would do them no good to get in trouble for 'scaring the other kids' when they were only sitting there and staring at the things they couldn't have.

"Ne, Izukun?"

The greenette turned their attention towards Shouto, who was staring at the upper arm closest to him. They glanced down at it, and upon noticing the purple splotches of new bruises forming, pulled down their shirt sleeve to cover them up better. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Yeah Shouchan?"

They tilted their head at the flicker of distress upon their friend's face, as he turned his head away, but kept his body facing towards them.

"Wanna come over my house after school again? Dad has some new Pokemon he's gotten hold of, and I figured you'd like to see them before they hit the public."

Just like that, envy was replaced by excitement, and it was all Izuku could do to keep themself contained. They couldn't talk about quirks or Pokemon, or Mama would hit them, but they could go along with the wishes of their friends. She couldn't take away their friends, not without drawing attention to herself, and they knew how careful she was about her reputation.

"I-I'd love to! What types are they? Do you know yet?"

Oh, their excitement got the better of them... at least they were in a safe place at the moment, eating lunch with Shouchan. Nobody would hurt them while they were with him, and the same went for when they were with Kacchan, but Kacchan ate lunch with the other kids most of the time. Still, they were safe, and that's why they were in their neutral form at the moment. They were safe to be themself.

"Not yet, but he said he was going to show me later. Do you need to let your mom know that I've invited you over?"

The greenette nodded, and Shouto passed his phone over, letting them use it to text Inko. They sent the same message they always did when this happened- _"This is Izuku, Shouchan invited me over again, I'll text you when I'm on my way home-"_ before returning the phone to its owner, and finishing up the last of their lunch.

They were going to see the new Pokemon in the Todoroki Breeding Center before anyone else... they couldn't wait for the school day to be over already!

* * *

The new Pokemon were Ghost types.

_Izuku's_ type.

Todoroki Shouto had been asked to bring Izuku over, regardless of injured status or not, because his siblings had noticed that they didn't have a starter. His siblings had noticed, and had brought the matter to their parents, and their parents had asked him to bring the greenette over. It was a calculated move, one meant to bring their emotions to the surface... and he'd been given the opportunity to back out.

"What do you think," he asked them, peering into the enclosure that the Pokemon were playing in. "Could one of them be your starter?"

He knew that the goal of this venture was to get Izuku to break down. He knew that he was going to be hurting his friend, but the way things were going, it would be better to hurt them this way than to let them get hurt more at home. His family needed more evidence that Inko was abusing them, an account from the victim... He needed to save them. They needed to save them.

Shouto glanced over at Izuku, and his eyes widened as he saw the tears flowing down their face.

"What's wrong? Did I say something?"

He knew full well what he'd said, what he'd done, but he was helping his friend. He couldn't feel guilty about it now... not with the greenette lurching towards him and wrapping around him like he was the last thing on earth that could help them.

The first part of his mission was successful. Now he had to get them to the room with the microphones, so they could get the evidence they needed. He'd help them. He'd save them. Mom and Dad would save them.

"I'm n-never getting a starter! Because Mama said I couldn't until I changed my primary, and people don't change their primaries like that, and she hates m-me! She hates my quirk, she hates my type, she hates everything ab-bout me!"

The Pokemon stopped playing to look up at them, and Shouto began to guide Izuku away, taking them down the hall to more private locations. With how tightly they held onto him, he could feel their quirk activating in distress, their shoulders widening and narrowing against his own with the strangest buzzing sensation where direct contact was made. They cried, wetting his shirt with their tears and snot, all the way to the room with the microphones.

He brought them in, and closed the door behind them, before guiding them to the couch. There was a mini fridge next to it, filled to the brim with water and ice cream, for the dual purpose of keeping Izuku hydrated and calming them down.

It was time for him to get them to unload everything. He pulled out a water bottle, and gave it to his friend, giving them something to focus on other than himself. He thought about everything his parents had coached him how to do, recalled every piece of advice his siblings had given him, and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

With a sympathetic and steady voice, Todoroki Shouto listened and spoke to his friend about their problems at home, helping them relax and gathering the evidence that his family needed to put Midoriya Inko behind bars.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku was ten years old.

He was sitting in the living room with his mother, as he usually did on the days that he got home from school right away. It was something she'd told him to do, something that he knew reminded her of when he was still three years old, because it reminded him of that time too. Positive memories were a part of this routine, and they gave him hope that one day, things would get better.

They gave him, perhaps, a little too much hope.

A Duskull was shown on the screen as part of a commercial for the local pet shop, with the announcer saying that it was one of many new starters available. Izuku was ten years old, he'd gone three full years without getting his starter, and he was filled with the hope of a better future... thus he spoke with a lowered guard and an absent filter.

"Duskulls are pretty cool Pokemon. Most of their moves are status moves, I think, or have secondary effects that affect the opponent's status. There's this whole legend that they'll spirit away bad children who don't listen to their parents, but I don't think that's true. They're more mischievous than dangerous. Though it is likely that they spook bad kids and make them cry. Lots of things make kids cry."

Behind him, Inko quietly called her Pokemon back into their pokeballs, and moved forward to rest a hand on Izuku's curls. She pet them softly, her voice deceptively light as she asked, "Would you like one as your starter?"

The greenette nodded, continuing to stare at the screen, happiness coiling inside him at the thought. He wouldn't even mind if his starter wasn't the same type of his primary affinity, so long as he got one...

His mother kept running her fingers through his curls, but slowly came to a stop, and gripped him firmly.

He realized his mistake, and quickly began to apologize, when she shushed him. She shook her head, a gentle smile on her face, as she pulled him up to a standing position by his hair. The commercial continued playing on in the background.

"Well, they pass through walls to scare disobedient children, don't they? Maybe you'll meet one someday... maybe while you're in the hospital."

The boy paused, and looked up into her eyes. There, he saw fury, and knew that even begging for mercy wouldn't save him.

"Why don't we find out?"

His eyes widened, and he reached up to get her hand out of his hair, but she was quicker. She pivoted in place, pulling him along by the one hand she had hold of him, and he couldn't even blink before his world was filled with pain. It felt like his quirk activating, but it hurt so much more than his quirk ever had, and he couldn't move. His muscles seized up, and glass shards went flying, as he somehow ended up on the floor. He didn't know what happened, he couldn't even think-

A foot connected with his side, and he finally unlocked the ability to scream, twitching away from the source. He felt shards of glass digging into his skin, and he struggled to open his eyes amidst the panic, he struggled to see what was happening.

The TV screen was broken. Sparks of electricity zipped from broken wire to broken wire, and the glass from the screen was on the floor around him. He struggled to make sense of it, but then he saw his Mama rearing back to kick again, and he finally reacted.

Izuku clumsily grabbed her foot, and yanked it out from underneath her, before scrambling to get up and get _away_.

He didn't know what happened, but he was stumbling down the hallway. His mother was yelling behind him, and he heard her footsteps approaching, and he kept running. He didn't duck into his room because he knew that it wasn't safe; instead he continued straight out the door, his goal to get someplace outside. 

He couldn't think, but he still knew that she couldn't hurt him out in public. She never had, and she never would, because she had a reputation to protect. His subconscious mind did not associate his room with safety, but instead the outdoors, where there were too many people watching for something bad to happen. He would live on the streets if he knew that she wouldn't track him down again...

"YOU LITTLE DEKU! COME BACK HERE!"

The greenette ran as fast as he could, using his smaller size to get through places his mother couldn't, putting obstacles between the two of them. His body stung, blood and glass dust dripped down his face, his head hurt like it was being smashed into pulp by a sledgehammer. He couldn't think, and he was stumbling, but he knew he had to get away. Where was safe? Who was safe?

Kacchan. Shouchan. They were safe.

Izuku kept running, even after he finally managed to put a large enough obstacle between him and his mother that she wouldn't risk yelling anymore. He kept running, kept running, kept running until he fell. He picked himself up again, stars passing before his eyes and freezing cold sweat trickling painfully down his face, and fell down almost immediately. He couldn't run anymore, so he tried to crawl, blurry vision searching for what he knew was safe.

He needed to find them... he needed to... _hide_...

His quirk flickering to life in response to his panic, Izuku dragged himself to the side of the road, and tried to look for Kacchan and Shouchan. The people passing by him gasped in shock- one of them turned rather green and ran around a corner- and a phone came out once or twice. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he recognized the words 'help' and 'heroes,' as his eyes began to droop shut.

_'Am I going to die...?'_

The greenette couldn't remember much of what happened after that.

He remembered colors, mostly. Red and orange and navy blue. Green and silver. Red and white and grey and blue. Pale yellow and red. He remembered his friends looking down at him, and tears, and hands plucking things from his hair.

He remembered the screaming mouth of his mother, and a jet of flames erupting between them, before the world was covered in soothing, pale blue ice.

He remembered gentle grey irises and white hair, and a furious, piercing blue, and then he closed his eyes.

Everything was gone; having faded away...

Midoriya Izuku woke up to the sound of beeping, and when he opened his eyes once more, the world welcomed him with a room that was filled with flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D


	7. Breaking Point: Aftermath

"Oh, you're awake! I bet your throat is feeling pretty dry, so I'll be right back with some water. Sit tight, dear."

Izuku watched anxiously as the nurse left the room, and slowly moved his gaze back to the TV. When he'd woken up about half an hour prior, he'd found a remote on his bedside table, and had decided to try catching up on everything he'd missed while he was out. He'd turned on the TV, and had turned to the news just in time for a report on All Might's latest victory... only to see the date in the lower left corner and nearly work himself into a panicked frenzy.

It had been a month since he'd last checked the date.

It had been a month since his mother had tried to- no, had _succeeded_ to- put him in the hospital.

He'd probably been in a medically-induced coma, all this time. It made sense, given how he'd received a rather shocking blow to the head, and how discombobulated his memories following that event were. He could only remember flashes of color, really, and even those were beginning to fade... yet he was left with the impression that his friends had been with him at some point. Did they visit him while he was in the coma, and leave his subconscious mind aware of their presences? Or had they shown up after he'd initially ran himself into the ground? He didn't know.

What he also didn't know was where his mother was. His hospital room was filled with all sorts of colorful flowers, but the only ones he could identify were the autumn bellflowers, because she was allergic to them. If she was spending time with him regularly, either as his mother or in a more professional capacity, then she would've had them removed. But they were here, so she wasn't, and she probably didn't plan to.

His next questions had to be regarding the flowers themselves. Who had given them to him, and why? The only people he could think of who would give him flowers with genuine regard would be Kacchan and Shouchan, though the former would be more likely to take flowers from the wild than to get them from professional flower shops, and these were too neat and tidy to have come from anywhere but. Shouchan's family was definitely rich enough to afford them all, and they were fresh, meaning that they'd probably been replaced once or twice already...

"Okay, here you are! If you have any questions or needs, don't hesitate to press the call button, and I'll be right over! Your weekly visitors are going to arrive soon, though, so you might not end up needing me after all!"

The nurse returned, placed a glass of water on the table next to him, along with a pitcher of ice water for refills and a small box of chocolate. He seemed to be receiving special treatment of some kind, and he knew that his Mama wouldn't be paying for such a thing, but there could be nobody but her paying for this, right? The flowers were gifts, obviously, but hospitals didn't offer their typical patients ice cold water and complimentary chocolates. This was upper level care. She wouldn't pay for this. Was Papa paying for it?

Izuku stared, and slowly took the glass of water, but didn't touch the chocolate yet. He didn't know if this was a mistake, but if it was, then he couldn't be billed for the water. Water was free. But then, what if the nurse had tampered with it? His Mama had made him a bit wary of doctors in general- if she could hurt him, who's to say they wouldn't- but he'd never had the opportunity to judge one other than her. They couldn't all be bad, right?

"Enjoy the chocolates, Todoroki-chan!"

Izuku slowly blinked as the nurse skipped out of the room, and stared wide-eyed after her. Pardon his ten year old potty mouth, but what the fuck? Was this a case of mistaken identity or something? Did he get put in the wrong room? Wait, she'd mentioned weekly visitors- were they the Todoroki family? If so, why were they taking care of him under their name? Where was his mother? What did he- _what had happened while he was in that coma_?

The boy realized that he was starting to hyperventilate, and tried to calm down like he'd learned to from the internet, counting out the time that it took to inhale, hold, and exhale. He'd tried to do so in the past a few times before, when he was alone and particularly terrified of his mother coming to hurt him, but those times had mostly been failures due to how far gone he was. This time though, it was easier, and he was able to return to a slow and steady breathing pattern without falling into a full-blown panic attack.

Still. He didn't like missing out on important information. The most seemingly insignificant details could be the deciding factor for whether or not he'd be receiving a beating in the next few minutes, and he didn't want to risk that; not after what he'd already experienced. He'd been put in the hospital from his last beating, he was _still_ in the hospital from his last beating, and he didn't want to find out what the next one was going to be like.

Izuku stared at the 'Call Nurse' button, and his fingers tightened around his glass of water as he contemplated his options. On one hand, he could call the nurse and ask what she meant, but that might result in her realizing the mistake she'd made, and in him losing whatever good treatment he was being given. On the other hand, he did apparently have visitors coming soon, so he could ask them what the situation was...

He took a sip, deciding that it was unlikely for a medical professional to mess with someone under the name of a hero's family, and quietly tested his voice. It was rough, and it hurt a bit to talk even after drinking some water, but he could probably get everything out that he needed to. As long as he took it slow, he would be able to get all the words out clearly... so it was decided.

As Izuku reached for the button, however, he heard multiple sets of footsteps coming from down the hall. One was light, and one was heavy, and two were somewhere in the middle. He recognized the lighter footsteps easily, and retracted his previous movement, realizing that it would be a waste of the nurse's time.

Shouchan was here, and as he entered the room to see him awake, his eyes lit up and he rushed over to the bed to hug him.

He could ask his questions later, once he was done crying... once he was done holding onto his best friend like he'd never expected to see him again.

* * *

The sun had already gone to rest for the evening, and through the window, the stars would have been visible if it weren't for the lights in the room being on. As it was, Izuku couldn't exactly turn them off... not without disturbing one sleeping visitor and leaving another awake visitor in the dark.

Rei and Touya had left earlier in the day, when the sun was still setting, and Shouchan had fallen asleep on the cot beside him. Now it was just Izuku and Todoroki Enji, sitting in an awkward silence that was being mutually ignored in favor of the news on TV. The reporter droned on about significant events that had occurred in the past two weeks, this being the biweekly report that aired every other Sunday, and he chewed on his lip as he tried to listen.

He never imagined that the number two hero would be awkward with his words, after seeing the press conferences and interviews he'd had, and after seeing him interact with his family during his many visits to the Todoroki household. But now, it was obvious that the man wanted to say something, yet the words wouldn't come out. It was something heavy, something important, something he probably didn't feel comfortable telling a ten year old... 

Most likely, it was something about his Mama, and why his hospital stay was being paid for by him instead of her.

He could wait for him to put the words together, though. Izuku knew how to wait, had been taught how to wait when acting too eager caused him to have to wait longer, so he could do that here. He could wait, and watch the news that the reporter could really be putting a bit more enthusiasm into, and keep his eyes averted from the hero who was petting his Pyroar.

"-and now onto more legal affairs, in a shocking blow to many staff and patients of Musutafu Medical Center, the prestigious young doctor Midoriya Inko had been found guilty of child abuse and attempted murder."

From the corner of his eye, the boy saw the Flame Hero jerk his head slightly towards the TV- just a few centimeters of movement. The silence between them remained, but it was no longer awkward. Now, it was filled with tension.

"She was expected to serve fifteen years in prison for these crimes, with an additional five years for assaulting a pro hero, but yesterday morning she was found to have escaped custody."

The tension rose, as his gaze flicked between Enji and the TV, and a hard expression formed upon the man's face. The number two hero was glaring at the screen, as he could set it on fire by gaze alone, but Izuku knew that he generated the flames from his body rather than his mind. He could somewhat control flames outside of his body though, so maybe he was hoping that the TV would light up on its own, so he could burn it to a crisp.

"Police officers are puzzled by her escape, as her guards reported nothing of notice occurring Friday evening, and the security footage of the event was corrupted. Given her previous statements, it is believed that she may be looking for her son, although there is also speculation that she has decided to flee the country to join her husband overseas. If anyone sees a somewhat-pudgy woman with dark green hair and bright green eyes, as seen in this photo, please report the sightings to the police as soon as possible."

...it had been a month.

Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, the boy reached over to the remote, being careful not to disturb the sleeping Shouto beside him. He turned off the TV, and the silence in the room became absolute, save for the quiet crackling of Endeavor's fiery facial hair.

_It had only been a month._

He didn't want to think about the fact that his mother had genuinely tried to kill him, nor the fact that she'd apparently escaped from prison and could be planning to go after him again in the future. Those were cans of worms that he could open up later, when he was alone, and could have a breakdown that nobody else could see. Thus, he distracted himself with the puzzle pieces he'd been given earlier, regarding the Todoroki family.

"I... Is that why you're here, paying for my stay? A-And why the nurse called me Todoroki-chan earlier? Are you... adopting me?"

He couldn't deserve it.

He stopped biting his lip, tasting the blood that was collecting, and channeled his tension into his hands. His fingers gripped the sheets tightly, pulling them a bit away from Shouchan, and the sleeping boy responded by moving closer to Izuku. The warmth was comforting, as he sorted through the white noise of confused thoughts in his mind and fluctuating emotions in his chest...

Todoroki Enji sighed, and drew his hands up to press them together, leaning forward in his chair with slumped shoulders.

"Yes, it is. Rei and the kids wanted to surprise you with it- with your adoption, that is- but I wanted to tell you about your mother before we brought you home. The issue is, how do you tell a child that their mother tried to kill them? That's not something I've ever had to do before, surprisingly, and it's even more difficult when you know said child personally. So here I've been trying to think of how to put it most kindly and honestly, and then the news goes and tells you for me. That was a failure on my part."

The boy stared, his skin tingling with the stressed activation of his quirk. He didn't shift forms though, because he was in the hospital, and some distant corner of his mind kept whispering that his Mama was watching him.

"Anyways, yes, you are being adopted by us. The courts found your mother unfit to have custody, your father was unable to be reached, and you have no other living relatives that could be found. Originally, you were going to be put into foster care, but... well, we didn't want to see that happen. Rei grew up in foster care, and she's told me stories of how horrible it can be, and everyone in the house is already rather attached to you. It makes perfect sense for us to take you in, both logically and emotionally."

The man said it so easily. There wasn't any trace of falsehood that Izuku could see, and Izuku had learned how to see things that other people couldn't. He... the Todoroki family genuinely wanted him around. Why?

"If you don't want that, though... I do hope that you can be happy with us, but if you want something else..."

"N-No," he shook his head, curls flying around. "I-I'm okay with this. I... I want to be safe. Shouchan is safe. You're safe. I'll be safe with you now."

Taking away his mother's legal custody over him instantly made the Todoroki family the option he would go to, given the choice, because he didn't have to fear being returned to her. Endeavor was a hero, and Mama had broken the law, so they were on opposite sides now. With how public the Todoroki family could be, almost everything was seen, and his absence would raise questions if he were to become a part of it and then vanish. No matter what, he'd be safe.

Auntie Mitsuki didn't have the same obligations that they did, however, nor the same morals. Her personal loyalties would override her obligation to abide by the law, and if he went to live with the Bakugou family, there was no guarantee that Mitsuki would stop his Mama if she were to show up to take him away. There was no guarantee that Masaru would be able to help him, even though he definitely wanted to, and had tried to in the past. It was Uncle Masaru that made the Bakugou family his second choice despite that, but he'd be safer where he was now.

He'd be safer as part of a hero's family, even if he didn't deserve it.

"...Enji-san?"

The man looked at him, and he exhaled, rubbing the pads of his thumbs against the sheet he'd previously been gripping too tightly.

"Can I use my quirk?"

Izuku watched the expressions pass across the hero's face, the tiny twitches that most people didn't see, the little details that gave everything away. He saw brief flickers of sorrow and fury, the former directed towards him and the latter towards his situation, before they were replaced by a solid mixture of understanding and acceptance.

"Of course you can, Izuku. You'll never have to ask that question around us, because the answer will always be yes."

Slowly, the white noise began to subside, and Izuku's body shook. He smiled shakily, even as his vision blurred with the torrent of tears he'd been holding back, and as he let his quirk go. They sniffled, and they kept their cries as quiet as they possibly could, as their skin tingled and numbed and returned.

Enji got up quickly once they started crying, and approached them by the side of the cot that Shouto wasn't sleeping on, taking them into a hug. He held them tightly, letting them muffle their sobs with his chest for as long as they needed, as they worked through the anxiety and the relief and the fear. He kept them close, reassuring them with his presence and with pats on their back, and promised them that he would keep them safe.

Midoriya Izuku cried themself to sleep in a hero's arms, exhausted from the day's events and all the revelations they'd had to deal with, and woke up the next morning with the fragile hope that things were going to be better from then on.


	8. Keeping Up With The Todorokis

It had been approximately five months since Izuku had been adopted by the Todoroki family, and she was still getting used to it all.

She was allowed to use her quirk freely, and they didn't hit her or berate her for it. They were forgiving, so much more forgiving than Mama ever was, and she didn't get punished for making mistakes. She kept flinching, and it made her feel terrible when she saw that guilty sort of sadness in their eyes, the understanding that a part of her was broken in a way they'd never experienced. She was used to a different world than they were... it wasn't their fault that Mama had treated her so badly.

It wasn't their fault that she didn't know what was normal and what wasn't anymore.

Life with the Todorokis was so very different than it had been with her mother, so much busier and yet so much more relaxed. She didn't know how they could keep up with it all, and yet they did, and somehow they also found the time to hang out together at the end of the week. It was a tradition of theirs to have family bonding time every Sunday evening, and she hadn't known that that was a thing that was done in real life until the first time it happened.

The family convened in what Izuku was currently calling the entertainment lounge, as that was a decidedly appropriate name for it, and had eased her into their routines. They went around the circle, and shared stories of what had happened during the past week, and then they played a bunch of games together. Another time, some of them were too tired to participate properly, so the family instead threw on a movie and feasted upon a plethora of snacks and drinks. The best part of it, to Izuku, was that she hadn't been forced to participate.

"We all opt out of activities on occasion; sometimes because one of us is too tired, sometimes because we had a really bad day or week that we don't want to talk about, and sometimes because we just don't feel like doing anything. You don't have to participate in anything you don't feel comfortable with."

Rei was the one explaining things to her, in a soft voice that was more comforting than she could ever recall her mother's voice being- she'd forgotten how kind the green-haired woman had been when she was still a toddler. However, despite this comforting voice and the sympathetic grey eyes above it, she was still a bit wary. On a logical level, she knew that she was unlikely to hurt them, given how she'd seen her quirk and had still been the one most vocal about saving her. Yet also on a logical level, she knew that her mother had been kind before she'd turned on her, so she couldn't help but feel... nervous.

Izuku didn't like to be alone with either Rei or Fuyumi, due to how Inko had been and what she had done, but she was trying to overcome it. This was her family now, and she knew that she was safe, so she wanted to hurry up and feel it already. She wanted to forget what life had been like with Mama, to get over it already, to set aside her fears and move past them. Maybe she could start by watching Rei cook in the kitchen, and maybe later on she could tag along with Fuyumi on some of her tutoring trips...

She could take things at her own pace. She could decide what and how she wanted to do things, because she had so much _freedom_ , and it was just as exciting as it was terrifying. She was already happier than she could ever remember being before, and she was scared that if she messed up too many times or too seriously, it would be taken away again. If she got used to this ability to do as she pleased, and then it was taken away, she knew that it would hurt her more than any of the scars Mama had left on her.

_'But that won't happen. The Todorokis- my new family members- are not like Mama. They don't punish me for making little mistakes like she did. They don't hit me or drag me along to unfamiliar places without warning. They're letting me get used to things at the speed that I want to, and they're not forcing me to do anything I'm not sure about. They're a good family, and they love each other, and... they love me too.'_

Izuku gave herself a little pep talk, as she usually did upon waking up, and slapped her cheeks a little. The reflection in the mirror did the same, staring back at her with green eyes and the scars that Inko had left on her. She didn't like seeing those eyes looking at her, but she forced herself to keep focused, as she whispered the morning mantra that her therapist had advised her to create.

"I am wanted. I am loved. I am not useless, and I am not worthless, and I am not an abomination. My name is Izuku, not Deku, and I have a family that loves me and wants to protect me. I am safe. I am happy. I am loved."

After repeating this once or twice, and adding in other details as she thought of them, the girl felt better than she had before. She felt more relaxed, as though the anxiety she woke up with had partially dissolved, though she knew that she would always be a little bit nervous. Her therapist had said that it could take years to recover from what Mama had done to her, so she wasn't getting her hopes up for instantaneous results. It would take time to get better, and she could wait for that day to come.

With one final nod to her reflection in the mirror, Izuku hopped down from the step ladder, and left the bathroom to start her day.

* * *

Everyone in the Todoroki family had something that tied them to Pokemon, in some way. 

Their Dad ran a Pokemon breeding center, which he took very seriously- his Pokemon were some of those with the best individual values in Japan. Once the late morning rolled around though, Enji left the center in Rei and Natsuo's capable hands; donning his public persona and performing hero work for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Rei was a licensed Pokemon nurse, having worked in a PokeCenter when she was younger, and now she used her medical tag to make sure that the Pokemon living there were happy and healthy. She didn't work outside of the family, so most of her free time was spent at home, either gardening or cleaning or enjoying the company of her children.

Natsuo was following almost directly in their Dad's footsteps, though he wasn't interested in the hero side of things. He was focused on Pokemon, on what each species could do and how to breed them to be their best, and especially on how they functioned in the natural world. He was heavy on the research, and he was planning to attend university for a degree in Pokemon science, so that he could get a license for actively performing experiments both on and with Pokemon. As he was in high school though, the most he could do at this time was take advantage of his father's expertise, and so he did.

Much like their mother, Touya had learned how to heal and treat injured Pokemon, and he had a rather special connection with them. He never said anything about it, but it was obvious to all who saw him interacting with them- they'd calm down at his touch, and he could treat them as he needed to, where all other healers faced resistance and aggression. Strangely, however, he wasn't exactly following in her footsteps. There were things that he didn't tell them, things that made him sneak out in the night with freshly dyed hair, things that had him returning early in the morning just to dye his hair back to its natural color... If Izuku had to guess, they'd say that Touya might be an underground hero or a vigilante, but he seemed a bit too young for that.

Moving past the air of secrets and mystery that surrounded Touya, as it so often did with Ghost type trainers, Fuyumi was very open with her work and her desires. She had the second-least involvement with Pokemon out of the entire family, being in the process of learning how to be a teacher for primary school students, but she did still have some. As practice for the future, she acted as a Pokemon tutor for the kids in the city, using the knowledge she'd gained from both of her parents in order to teach inexperienced trainers how to best train and care for their companions.

Then there was Shouto, who was much like Natsuo in his desire to surpass their Dad, but his focus was different. Though he'd learned a lot about Pokemon from both Rei and Enji, he wanted to be a hero- like Izuku did, like his father was- and he wanted to be a better hero than Japan had ever seen. Dark type trainers were particularly ambitious, and though that ambition hid well from most parts of Shouto's life, it couldn't be held back or silenced when it came to heroics. That was how the bichromatic-haired boy got Enji to start training him when he was just seven years old... he simply wouldn't take no for an answer.

Everyone in the family was connected to Pokemon, all except for Izuku. The child knew so much about them from remote analysis, true, but their knowledge paled in comparison to that of the Todorokis. They didn't even have a starter yet, so they couldn't even learn how to train them firsthand... they were the person in the family with the least amount of involvement.

But maybe that was about to change.

"Izu, Dad wants to see you in the center. I'm gonna come with."

Izuku looked up from the TV, and from the notebook they were currently writing in, taking in Shouto's stance and the excitement that he was doing his best to keep hidden. Something was up, it seemed, and whatever it was had their brother fairly eager to get on with it.

Leaning back in their seat, the child grinned teasingly, and stretched out in a very slow and exaggerated manner.

"I don't know how quick I'll be about it," they said, dragging the motions out, "I _am_ in the middle of analyzing the first years' Sports Festival-"

With a frustrated whine, the boy reached over and took hold of their hand, pulling them up and dragging them behind him. He was pretty strong for his age, due to the training their Dad gave him, and as such was able to pull the small Izuku behind him without much trouble. They were catching up, however, as they'd gotten healthier and had started joining in said training sessions, and hopefully they'd start getting taller too.

They didn't like being pretty much a full head shorter than Shouchan. There was too much teasing potential there, and something else...

"Alright, alright! I'm coming, haha!"

Shouto released them, and they moved back to the table to close their notebook, before setting off to follow him. As they did so, they couldn't help but wonder why they were being summoned to the center. Anxiety fluttered in their chest, as they began to wonder if they'd done something wrong and were about to be punished, but they wouldn't been told if they had first, right? Plus, their most valuable posters and other items were hidden away in a safe location, where nobody but them could reach, so those weren't at risk of being damaged or destroyed.

"He said to bring you to the examination room closest to the Ghost enclosure," Shouto said, the gleam in his eyes looking decidedly smug. As the two made their way into the center and through the lobby, they waved to the Natsuo standing behind the counter, and Izuku caught the lingering, _knowing_ stare he gave them.

"W-Why in the examination room? Shouldn't Rei-san be there if a Pokemon is being checked for stuff?"

Pokemon who were suspected to be injured or sick had their health checked in the examination rooms closest to their enclosures, and due to the location, the current Pokemon being examined had to be a Ghost type. Rei was usually the one who checked the resident Pokemon, as well as those that had been donated to the center from the outside, but occasionally Touya or Shouto would get the opportunity to look them over themselves.

"Nah, she's already looked at them. This is something for you specifically."

Well, if Rei had already checked things out, then they were probably planning to have Izuku look them over. Maybe this was going to be an assessment of their abilities, or something. They hadn't had the opportunity to show off their medical knowledge yet, and their family would need to know their skill levels before they could actually do anything, so this was probably their abilities being tested. 

It wasn't a punishment. They hadn't done anything wrong.

"Okay. Can I get any hints?"

The child watched their brother gain a thoughtful expression to his face, and saw the slight twitch of his cheek that meant excitement and glee, before he shook his head and they stopped outside the exam room door.

"Nope, no hints. But I can say for certain that you're gonna like this. Oh, and Dad said that you might want to be quiet at first, but you're almost always quiet, so that shouldn't be an issue."

He then knocked on the door, and as soon as the door was opened, ushered Izuku inside. They kept quiet as they'd been advised to be, and tried to peek around the mountain of muscle between them and the examination table, huffing softly when Shouto snickered at them.

Enji grinned down at the two small children before him, and moved over, allowing them to see the Pokemon on the padded table.

"Izuku, this is a Mimikyu that was donated to the center roughly six months ago, just a week or so before we adopted you. It came in hurting, shying away from all contact, hiding from every human in the area due to the abuse that its former trainer's relative had put it through."

They moved in a little closer, approaching slowly, so as to avoid startling it. It watched them warily, but it didn't seem inclined to scurry off... perhaps it had gotten better in the six months it had been there.

"It reminded us of you."

Izuku noticed that Shouto and Enji were both staying back by the door, even as they got to the table and rested their chin on the padded surface. This seemed to be a moment for them, for Izuku and the Mimikyu, as the two stared at one another in mutual curiosity.

"Are they still hurting?"

The child didn't reach for the Pokemon, didn't make any move to touch it at all, knowing that trying to do so without warning would probably startle it. One of the 'lessons' that Mama had given them had detailed the gruesome things that Mimikyus done to trainers who'd peeked underneath their disguises, and although they weren't afraid of that, they still didn't want to trigger any of its defensive instincts. It was like them, and it was in the process of healing, and they didn't want to hurt that.

"Not so much as it was before, thankfully. It has lost so many levels due to the loss of its trainer and the subsequent situation it was put through, but it should recover those quickly with a strong, new trainer. Upon evaluation, it was even found suitable to be someone's starter... if they were able to understand and care for it properly, that is."

Izuku, aware of the eyes on their back, licked their drying lips nervously. They could feel the excitement around Shouto rising slightly, and given the words that had just been spoken, had a pretty solid theory that they were being offered this Pokemon. Would they be able to care for it properly, though? Would they understand what it needed, when it needed things? What even was its name? It had to already have one, given that it was owned by a trainer before.

"It has two names, actually."

Oh, they'd mumbled their thoughts... that hadn't happened since they were little.

"The previous trainer noted that it likes to be called by different names depending on what disguise it has on at the time. You'll notice that the current disguise has a little purple bow attached to the base of the left ear- that means that it wants to be called Mira. When it doesn't have the bow, it wants to be called Toshi."

Still watching the Mimikyu, Izuku slowly reached out a hand and set it on the table before it, palm facing upwards. Normally they would've had their palm facing down, facing an unknown and skittish Pokemon, but it felt like they could push things a little. Mira hadn't reacted negatively to them thus far, and seemed to be fairly calm, so it was probably open to physical contact. Still, they wanted to give it the opportunity to refuse, because freedom of choice was very important.

Mira reached out a clawed, shadowy limb from beneath its disguise, and placed it lightly in the child's hand, cool and smooth to the touch. They felt a wobbly smile forming on their face at the trust it was showing them, and blinked back the tears, feeling a mixed sense of delight and accomplishment.

"I can take care of her," they said quietly, reaching out their other hand to pet the back of the disguised Mimikyu. "I'll take good care of you, Mira. Will you be my starter?"

The Mimikyu dipped the head of its disguise forward in a nod, and Izuku smiled wide, as Shouto let out a little cheer behind them. Their Dad then came forward with a selection of pokeballs to use, and having thought about it before, they chose the Luxury ball without hesitation. They wanted their Pokemon to be as comfortable and happy as possible, and they could afford the more expensive pokeballs due to their new family, so they saw no reason to deny their Pokemon the best they could get.

Plus, well, Rei had basically told them to go wild on their purchases when they'd gone shopping for new things about five months ago, and had made it clear that they could afford pretty much anything that they wanted. They didn't feel right about spending so much money on themself, but if it was for someone else, then they could justify it to themself easier.

Izuku thus caught their first Pokemon, and watched the ball rattle once, twice, thrice, before settling. Mira was comfortable in her new space, and as Izuku picked up the Luxury ball from the table, they noted that it felt a little colder to the touch than it had before. That was the influence that the Mimikyu had, apparently, and it would make it easier to distinguish between her and future companions. 

Before they could catch other Pokemon, however, they did need to get an actual trainer's card. Thus, they followed Enji out of the room and to his work desk, where the proper paperwork was already waiting to be signed. The papers would be either mailed or taken to the nearest PokeCenter, and then processed, and then the trainer card would be handed over or mailed directly to the Todoroki estate.

With an excited Shouto vibrating by their side, Izuku signed the Pokemon registration papers that would lead to the acquisition of a proper trainer's card, and went on the hunt for the perfect pokeball holster for Mira's pokeball to be held in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who guessed that Izuku's first Pokemon was gonna be a Mimikyu, congratulations x3


	9. So You Think You Can Train

"Mira, left and Double Team!"

At Izuku's command, the Mimikyu dodged left of the incoming attack, and her body briefly shimmered with a reflective silver energy. Just as quickly as that was done, their opponent pushed forward with his own commands; Shouto's Poochyena eagerly snapping forth.

"Persi, Bite! Push them back with another afterwards!"

"Mira, Astonish! Circle around!"

The two Pokemon danced around the battlefield, attacking and defending and dodging as their trainers commanded. It was clear to anyone watching that Izuku was still getting used to things, as their orders came with a slight delay, but they weren't giving up easily. This was something that had been denied to them far too long, and now that they could finally participate, they were giving it their all.

Persi may have been a few levels above Mira, but Team Izuku was playing a fair evasion game, resulting in the damage output between them being about the same. As Shouto considered the battlefield, it was clear that he knew this, as his next moves were not outright attacks.

"Persi, retreat a few meters and use a Sand Attack! Then, use Howl, and get ready to Bite again!"

Izuku threw a hand forward, their mouth opening with the order to dodge ready, but they couldn't speak fast enough. Mira was hit by the sand attack, and she whined as a clawed hand scraped over the eye holes of her disguise.

"Mira, retreat! Use Double Team again-"

A low howl pierced the air as the Mimikyu moved to follow their command, but as she was still wiping at the sand particles, she wasn't fast enough to avoid the Bite that followed after. Her disguise had already been busted earlier on, so the powered-up attack connected, and a hefty chunk of damage was dealt. The monitor on Izuku's belt began to chirp warningly, and if this were a battle in which healing items could be used, then this would be where they sprayed Mira with the Potion formula. Alas, that wasn't an option- the Todoroki siblings were training to fight in harder circumstances than that.

"Mira! Use Scratch again, and circle left!"

No healing items were allowed, and the battle wouldn't stop until one of their Pokemon had fainted.

"Persi, one more Bite to finish them off!"

As the Mimikyu's attack landed, Izuku heard their brother's battle monitor begin to beep, and watched the Poochyena dart forward. They licked their lips, and called out, "Astonish!" as the jaws of the enemy Pokemon closed in.

The attack flared up, but the Bite landed successfully before it could be completed, and Izuku's monitor stopped beeping. Mira's form slumped over as she passed out, and simultaneously, the Todoroki siblings called their Pokemon back into their pokeballs. The battle was over, and Shouto had won.

A little voice in the back of their mind whispered that they were a horrible person, letting their Pokemon get so hurt, but they did their best to ignore it. The voice sounded too much like Mama's to be... _worth_ listening to.

"Good match, Shouchan," the preteen said, pulling out five hundred yen and handing it to their brother. 

It was a typical part of trainer etiquette for the loser to give the winner some cash for winning, and Izuku was still learning trainer etiquette overall, due to their late entry to the battlefield. These lessons weren't always boring, but they did find it a bit weird that it was considered rude to refuse to battle with another trainer. Someone could be on their way to the PokeCenter with their Pokemon badly damaged from previous fights, and if another trainer challenged them, then they'd pretty much have to accept.

They couldn't really understand why someone would have to risk the deaths of their Pokemon like that... there was probably some information that they were still missing.

"You too. You're getting quicker- you almost beat me that time."

Izuku smiled at Shouto's praise, as the two made their way to the healing station at the end of the room, and handed their pokeballs over to Rei for her to heal them. She smiled as they spoke, listening in as she placed the objects into their proper slots and activated the machine, pressing buttons and flipping switches in the proper sequence.

"I think it's because I'm getting used to the chaos. Battling is a lot more hectic than it looks, and I wasn't expecting things to move as quickly as they did, but I'm starting to adapt."

The boy beside them nodded, and a teasing grin pulled at the corner of his lips as he said, "Maybe, but you've still got a long way to go before you'll be as good as I am."

Once Izuku let out an exaggerated huff, and the children got their pokeballs back, the two made their back to the battlefield. With a comment like that, now they had to catch up quickly, just so they could prove him wrong. Spite, whomst? There was only Determination here.

Together, the youngest Todoroki siblings would grow stronger, and then they'd take the world by storm.

* * *

"Martial arts are not a toy to be played around with. They are a weapon, a tool by which you may defend yourself and defend the people around you. You are not to go around picking senseless fights with your newfound skills- my own teacher taught me to use them to defend yourself and to protect the innocent, or don't use them at all. Is this understood, Izuku?"

The preteen nodded, their green and white hair flopping down slightly as they did so, and a quick puff of breath blew their bangs back to the side. They were experimenting a bit, seeing how their hair would be if they grew it out, testing to see if they'd prefer their hair to be longer or shorter. At the current moment, it was still in the awkward phase of being too short to tie into a ponytail while also being too long to easily control, and it was doing a good job of convincing them that short hair was the way to go.

"Yes Enji-sensei, I understand."

Todoroki Enji paused in his pacing before them, and retrieved a few choice hair clips from his pocket, leaning in to secure their bangs away from their face before returning to his previous movements. To their right, leaning against the wall of this particular training room, Shouto smirked at them while their Dad's back was turned. They, in turn, quickly stuck out their tongue before the man could turn back and notice their mutual teasing.

"Good. In that case, we'll begin with the basics. Shouto finds them to be rather boring, but you have quite the taste for finding loopholes, so I'm sure you'll appreciate them a bit more than he does."

The number two hero turned around, an amused glint to his gaze as it settled upon the two, even as his voice remained firm and serious.

"To begin with, we'll go over the legal and ethical implications of fighting, outside of Pokemon battling. We will discuss the laws that are in place for the protection of all citizens, and the exceptions to those laws. We'll discuss the morality one must keep in mind when faced with stressful situations, and when it is right and wrong to act in a violent manner. As we do so, we will continue to train your body to be in better shape, so that you may keep up once more complex training begins. Is this understood?"

Izuku nodded, standing straight and tall, bouncing slightly on their heels as it was nearly impossible to remain still with all of the excitement flowing through them.

"Yes, Enji-sensei!"

Up until today, the preteen had only been training to boost their flexibility and endurance alongside Shouto, without learning any combat techniques outside of Pokemon battling. But they wanted to be a hero, like so many other children in the world, and they'd need to learn how to fight if they were going to do so. Most hero wannabes learned how to fight in one of the hero high schools in the area, and that was all well and good, but they had the opportunity to get a head start. They were in a hero family, with access to things that they could have only dreamed about beforehand, and it would be absolutely wasteful to ignore it. Not to mention that everyone else in the family knew how to defend themselves...

It had taken a while for Izuku to feel even _slightly_ comfortable about asking for things, but the moment they'd started to, they'd requested to be trained in personal combat. They had to, if they wanted the chance to catch up, and if they didn't deserve it then the people they'd save in the future did. There was quite a ways to go before they'd catch up to Shouto, let alone anyone else in the family, but they were a quick learner. Their mind was sharp, and thanks in some part to their Mama's treatment of them, they had developed the skill to notice a great amount of details that ordinary people failed to see. The adversity they'd gone through had made them stronger, and from here on out they'd only continue to become moreso... they shouldn't be afraid anymore.

"Excellent. Shouto, please retrieve the white binder from my desk, along with the cooler from the kitchen, and bring them to the weight room. Izuku, follow my lead- we're going to start by stretching, and once Shouto returns, we'll be going to the weight room to begin in proper."

The boy with bichromatic hair ran off to carry out their Dad's request, and with a small, happy grin on their face, Izuku followed along with the stretches that Enji showed them.

* * *

"So, you've taken a liking for Kung Fu, have you? I am surprised that you don't like Aikido- it seems the perfect match for one of your temperament and stature. From what I have seen and heard, however, you are rather determined to surpass your limitations..."

Walking around Izuku, with catlike eyes and the gait of a predator, the private tutor Nobu Osame inspected the eleven year old boy before him. This man had been Touya's martial arts tutor in the past, and had later on assisted Fuyumi in a different style than her brother's, and now he had returned to teach a third Todoroki child. He was clearly a remarkable teacher, if the esteemed Todoroki family had called for his presence so many times... yet he didn't seem to let it go to his head.

"You are too small for the powerful Dragon and Tiger styles of Kung Fu. Taking down foes with overwhelming force is not, and most likely never will be, your primary methodology. You'd do better with a more quick and clever approach, one that causes your opponents to underestimate you before you dart past their guard for the final assault that ends the encounter... Tell me, boy. How is it you think of your opponents in battle? In what ways do you identify and target their weaknesses?"

The preteen licked his lips, standing up straight and firm, and took a few moments of thought to formulate his answer.

"I can identify weaknesses rather quickly, sensei. All I need is to be shown someone fighting once or twice, and then I can pick them out. When I'm fighting an opponent, I'd target their weaknesses by making it seem as though I know nothing of them, and then striking when they least expect it. They won't keep their guard up as high if they think that I'm too small and stupid to affect them."

The man paused before Izuku, looking him over with a calculative expression, before a slow grin began to spread across his face.

"A manipulative fighter... yes, I can see that quite well. You're so small and young, and yet there is a certain level of experience in your eyes. You've had to be quick and deceitful in the past in order to come out victorious on the other side, and you speak as though you don't like that, but also as though you have accepted it. Little Todoroki-kun, I do believe that you would fight best in the style of the Leopard, with a tad of influence from the Panther style. Do you have any questions before we begin in earnest?"

Izuku looked directly into the catlike eyes of his newest teacher, and smiled nervously, before opening his mouth to release an absolute deluge of inquiries into the air.

* * *

"Mira, left and Double Team! Get ready to Astonish!"

At Izuku's command, the Mimikyu's body briefly shimmered with reflective light, and afterimages were left behind her as she moved. The enemy Pokemon moved in, carrying out their trainer's previous orders, and made to Bite Mira at the same moment she started to Astonish.

"Persi, faster! Don't let them rest- use Bite again immediately after you finish that attack!"

The Poochyena moved in, and the two Pokemon struck each other at the same moment, dealing damage simultaneously. The flash of Astonish caused Persi to pull back a little while still biting done, resulting in a few tears forming in Mira's disguise, and the Mimikyu hissed with displeasure as a Tackle followed after.

The monitor on Izuku's hip began to beep, indicating that her Pokemon was low on health, but the girl didn't react negatively to the indicator. After all, Shouto's monitor had been beeping before hers... This was the end of the battle.

"Mira, use Copycat, then Scratch for the finish!"

The Mimikyu hissed again and moved in to return the Tackle, displeased with the damage that had been done to her disguise. And across the field, Shouto called out to his own Pokemon-

"Dodge left and use Bite! One more should do the trick!"

The battle, though intense, came to a quick end. Persi successfully dodged the Copied Tackle, but the follow-up Scratch came quicker than his Bite. The two Pokemon came to a stop with the end of the battle, and as the Poochyena fell to the ground in a faint, the siblings called them back into their pokeballs.

Izuku grinned from ear to ear, practically vibrating with joy. She'd finally beaten Shouchan in a Pokemon battle... she was no longer behind the skill level she should be at. Oh, wait until her middle school classmates found out! They'd be so happy for her, and she could finally be confident in her skills during battle class! The only thing that would make this better would be if she could tell Kacchan about her success, but they didn't go to the same schools anymore, and she didn't trust Aunt Mitsuki enough to risk visiting his house.

"Congrats, Izu. You've beaten me once, and now I've gotta work harder to make sure you don't beat me again."

Izuku grinned at her brother's teasing praise, as the two made their way to the healing station at the end of the room, and handed their pokeballs over to Touya. The teen smirked to himself as they spoke, listening in as he placed the spheres into their proper slots and activated the machine, and handed the rejuvenated Pokemon back to their owners.

"Good luck with that," the girl teased back. "Now that I'm on your level, you're gonna have a heck of a time trying to keep ahead!"

A grandfather clock in the distance chimed in twelve times, indicating that it was almost lunchtime, and the youngest Todoroki siblings turned around in the middle of their way back to the battlefield. Shouto rushed forward, racing through the door that led to the hallway, and Izuku darted for the door that led to Enji's study. The race was on, and the only determining factor as to who the winner would be was whether the study door was locked or not...

The study door opened, and Izuku sprinted through, cheering in victory as she made it to the table just three seconds before her brother did. Lunch was delicious, and it was a beautiful day.


	10. 1780

The Todoroki family had been cordially invited to the Hero's Gala, taking place at the Mighty Tower Hero Agency in Tokyo, hosted by the number one hero.

It was a tradition that originated from shortly after 'hero' had become a legitimate profession, that every five years, the hero at the top of the ranking board would host a party for their colleagues. Families were invited, friends were invited, trusted media personalities and even some lucky civilians were invited. It had been an event that was initially created for the people to see that their heroes were only human as well, and over the centuries, it had become important enough for this purpose that even villains respected the peace on the day of the gala.

Ever since All Might had become the number one hero, ever since he had saved hundreds of people from a natural disaster in mere minutes, ever since he had taken down every criminal that came his way with the blinding smile of victory that so inspired one Bakugou Katsuki, the peace was respected perhaps even moreso. Nobody wanted to draw the attention of the Symbol of Peace in a negative way, whether they were innocent or guilty alike, so the Hero's Gala was a day of joy and prosperity.

This was the first time that Izuku would be going to an event this important, an event that he had only ever dreamed of attending once before, back while he was still trapped in his Mama's house with nothing to do but watch TV or read or practice using his quirk in secret.

"Natsuo, where did you put my brush!?"

The Todorokis were almost ready to leave the house, 'just putting on the finishing touches,' but they were running a little bit behind schedule. This was a normal thing for them, something that had given them minor notoriety in the media for always being 'fashionably late,' because it just kept happening. Whether they started preparing hours early or just minutes beforehand, something would delay each and every one of them... perhaps a mischievous Legendary had cursed them to suffer harmless inconveniences or something.

Fuyumi was currently searching the house from top to bottom for her hairbrush, which Natsuo had borrowed at some point, and hadn't yet been returned. Natsuo was looking for the only tie that he had for serious formal events, in a box filled with dozens of joke ties, which had been acquired during a year of fashion-based pranks between him and Touya. The eldest Todoroki sibling had somehow misplaced one of his formal shoes, even though they were supposed to be by the door, so he was running around the house in a suit and slippers looking for them. 

Even Enji and Rei weren't ready. They were still in their room, and judging by the noises coming from within... well, the older kids weren't allowing the younger ones close enough to hear them clearly. Their parents _probably_ weren't going at it right before an important event, but from what he'd read on the internet and heard from his classmates, Izuku wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

...anyways.

Shouto, apparently, was the only one other than Izuku who was ready. The two of them had gotten ready together, picking out flattering colors for each other and the like, so now they were playing games in the entertainment lounge. The chaos of everyone else running down the halls and through the room behind them was background noise, barely breaking their concentration, but occasionally grabbing Izuku's attention as he was so unused to it still.

"Why is my shoe taped to the ceiling fan!?"

The boy with green and white hair glanced over his shoulder, and indeed, the ceiling fan of the entertainment lounge was sporting a fashionable addition to its wooden frame. His eyes widened at the sight, and he watched Touya briefly struggle to retrieve it, before Shouto elbowed him and reminded him of their game.

"Ah, sorry!"

Izuku glanced at the screen, and went back to mashing buttons with purpose, rather than mashing buttons blindly. He was playing with some of the new characters in Justice For All, which was a versus-style fighting game where two players would pick a main fighter and two support characters, and Shouto was currently winning because he'd never played it before being adopted. He was a quick study, however, and even though he was still getting familiar with all the available heroes to choose from, he was doing pretty well for himself.

"NATSUO, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! MY BRUSH WAS IN ONE OF THE KITCHEN CABINETS!"

Shouto snickered, and Izuku slowly looked over at him, beginning to realize just what was going on here.

"MY TIE!"

His brother snickered more, and took advantage of his distraction, using the moments he was looking away to take his character down to zero health. The battle was thus over, and with Shouto declared the winner, they turned off the game system and began heading for the sitting room by the front door. As they did so, Izuku kept staring at the red-and-white-haired boy, trying to figure out how exactly to put his thoughts into words.

"Stepladders are wonderful things," Shouto said in a conversational tone, a sly grin on his face.

"TOUYA, I KNOW IT WAS YOU! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD TAPE MY TIE TO THE SKYLIGHT!"

"Specifically, they're great at removing suspicion from us shorter members of the household," he continued, as Izuku listened in a mixture of shock and delight. "Don't tell them my secret, alright? This is my way of getting back at them for hitting me in their prank wars so many times."

"HEY NOW, MY SHOE WAS LITERALLY TAPED TO THE CEILING FAN!"

As the two pranksters bickered over who was responsible, Izuku was quietly sworn to secrecy, and Fuyumi alerted their parents that everyone was in the sitting room. Two or three minutes later, Enji and Rei emerged from their room and gave everyone a final look over, making sure that everyone was truly ready to go. With that said and done, the family of seven left the house and locked the doors, heading down the walkway to the limousine and chauffeur waiting for them.

Finally, with everyone in the vehicle, the Todoroki family set off for the Hero's Gala.

* * *

"Please welcome the number two hero, Endeavor, accompanied by his wife and five children!"

Izuku licked his lips nervously, and stuck a hand into his pocket to mess with his textured fidget cube, rubbing his thumb along the rubbery surface. His other hand was taken hold of by Shouto, who was familiar with the anxiety of such events, but who had already gotten used to an excessive media presence while out in public. While he himself had gotten used to people noticing him on the street because of his mother or because he was a Todoroki now, this gala was on a whole new level of attention, and there was a great amount of pressure to not screw up.

So, of course, he tripped immediately upon getting out of the limousine, and took Shouto down with him.

The media snapped pictures and cooed, as Izuku looked up with a wobbling lip. He didn't cry from the embarrassment- he was doing pretty well at holding it in, having learned to stifle his tears under his Mama's care- but his face was certainly rather flushed. When the two younger Todoroki siblings were helped back to their feet by Rei, he moved slightly so Shouto was partially hiding him from the media, wanting to hide the majority of his embarrassment if nothing else.

Once they were inside, Touya snickered, and snapped a picture of his own. "Not gonna lie, that was absolutely adorable. Expect to see your face in a loooot of places tomorrow morning."

"Touya-niiiiiiii," Izuku whined, pouting a little as Shouto brushed some dust off of his suit.

"Izu-niiiiiiii," Touya mimicked back, snapping another few pictures before pocketing his phone.

The Todoroki family moved onwards through the lobby of Mighty Tower, following the signs that directed them to the ballroom, and entered the room that was filled with a mixture of extravagance and down-to-earth style. It looked kind of like two people on the PR team had been arguing over which theme would be best for the Gala, and instead of choosing one or the other, they ended up deciding to use both. However, the simple aspects and the more detailed parts complemented each other, so it looked good in a way?

It was kind of weird though, to see simple and comfortable furniture within vibrantly patterned wallpaper and carpet, with chandeliers hanging over it all like golden cherries on a wood and velvet sundae.

Enji snorted, peering around the room and the people within it in amusement.

"All Might really needs to stop fighting with his interior designers. Every time the Gala or a similar event happens, there are always two clashing themes that end up like this. Toshinori, either you're approachable by the common man, or you want to indulge in the elegance of high society. Please make up your mind."

The last two sentences were directed towards All Might himself, as the number one hero moved to greet them at the ballroom door. He was even bigger in person than Izuku had thought, and from where he was still slightly hiding behind Shouto, the boy was fighting the urge to dart forward and assault him with questions about his mysterious quirk and the extended break from hero work that he'd had during the past year.

"Bold words coming from you, Enji! I've seen the majority of your agency, and it's not much better than mine!"

The top two heroes bantered for a short while more, until another hero family entered the ballroom behind them, and All Might had to take his leave. Practically vibrating in his suit, Izuku was reluctant to go as the urge to ask all the questions grew, but he was successfully guided away from the entrance and deeper into the party.

At every turn, there seemed to be a new person or group greeting them. Heroes from all over Japan and even a few from out of the country were present, and most of them didn't speak to the starstruck new addition to the Todoroki family, but he was able to get a few questions answered that made him wish he had one of his notebooks on hand.

"Ah, the bullets fired by my quirk are made of keratin! That's the same stuff that makes the fur of some animals really glossy, but in a more solid form."

"Well, my quirk works best on people of the opposite sex, but I can put pretty much _anyone_ to sleep with Somnambulist. Would you like to try it out?"

"Oh my gosh, you're not scared of me? Truly? Aaaahhhh."

Gang Orca had almost ruined his tough-guy image by bursting into happy tears, but managed to hold them back, and then proceeded to answer Izuku's questions like the previous heroes had. 

By this time, the Todorokis had been at the Gala for roughly forty-five minutes, and had mostly spread out across the room. Shouto had been accompanying him the entire time, keeping the few media personalities that approached them distracted while he spoke with all the heroes that would tolerate his questions, but soon one got past him to question Izuku directly.

"Hello, I'm Haruka-san from the Hero News Network! Would you mind telling us what's it like to be the adopted son of the number two hero?"

The cameraman caught the scene from a distance of six meters away, and when a microphone materialized out of thin air in the woman's waiting hand, the boy's expression of curious delight was caught on film as he answered the question and then immediately began asking some of his own. 

For the most part, Izuku's encounters with other reporters went the same way, each of them being polite and pleasant to deal with. Such was the advantage of being interviewed in an exclusive event. Of course, there were exceptions to everything, and one man touched on something that the boy really would have preferred leaving alone.

"During her interrogation, your biological mother stated that you would have been better off quirkless, but neglected to define what your quirk was exactly. Would you mind sharing it with us now?"

The man didn't seem to mean any harm, but the question and the preceding comment had not been ones he had been expecting, and his heart anxiously skipped a beat. He'd decided not to look over all the details of his mother's incarceration before her escape, as his therapist had recommended that he make sure he was in a strong mental state before doing so, and... well, he still had too many bad days to call his state of mind particularly strong. 

He was still afraid, you see. 

He still hadn't broken his defensive habits of moving silently through the house and carefully gauging people's moods before speaking to them. He still hoarded food in his dresser, out of a completely irrational fear that he would be denied it during mealtimes again, when he logically knew full well that he would never receive such treatment from the Todoroki family. He still hid his most valuable possessions where they couldn't reach it, in a secret hiding place in the frame of his futon, even though he knew they wouldn't destroy them. So, he hadn't healed enough to face Midoriya Inko and her thoughts about him, and so, he couldn't think of an answer to that rather distressing question.

Seeing the upset twitch to Izuku's smile, Shouto was quick to step in and distract the reporters again, giving them new fodder to question about what it was like to have a new brother. The topic of Inko was dropped, and although there were a few times that it seemed it would be brought up again, the reporters were careful with policing each other. They seemed to sense that it was a sensitive topic, and given the prestigious event that they were currently attending, none of them wanted to risk being kicked out of future Galas because they made the adopted son of the number two hero cry.

Afterwards, the two boys escaped through the crowd in search of a break, and made their way to the table that Enji and Rei were seated at. An older-looking redhead woman was seated at their table as well, and as Izuku glanced between her and Enji, he realized that this was very likely his grandmother. She looked like the woman in the pictures, after all, if not a bit older.

"Ah, here's the little brat you took in! Izuku, boy, what's your primary affinity?"

She reminded him somewhat of Aunt Mitsuki, but if Mitsuki had the gaze of a dragon that had just been woken up by someone snooping around its cave, and if Mitsuki was an absolutely terrifying bodybuilder. The woman's hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, colored the same shade of red as Enji's hair, and her muscles were fairly visible through the short-sleeved blouse and pants she wore. Her Pokemon, the one that she had out of its pokeball anyways, was an Emboar that appeared similarly tough.

"I-It's Ghost, ma'am. And my secondary is Psychic."

The redhead hummed thoughtfully, and Izuku briefly wondered if she would be the first member of his new family to hate him for his primary, moving his hand back into his pocket to click a switch on the fidget toy back and forth. Of course, if she did dislike him, then she'd probably have disliked Touya-nii and Shouto as well...

"Hah! Wouldn't have expected that just looking at you- you're too _cute_ to be a Ghost primary. And Psychic and Normal as your secondaries, huh? That Normal secondary will give you a boost in relationships with all types of Pokemon, you know. Try not to end up with only one type on your team."

Izuku nodded, relieved that his grandmother didn't _obviously_ hate him, and passed her advice through his mind a few times for consideration later on. As she pat one of the empty seats beside her, he moved to sit down with Shouto, and further discussion commenced. 

They talked about Pokemon primarily, on certain team builds and why so many people ended up with only one or two types on their teams, on why that tendency was a good thing and a bad thing. They spoke of the teams that the current best heroes had, and of the diversity in almost each and every one. They debated on whether it was better for one to receive a starter that was their primary type or one of their secondary types, and after that, they moved on to how the various methods of breeding Pokemon gave them better stats than wild Pokemon.

As things got heated, Enji and the woman Izuku now knew as Kokuya-obaasan both using their fire quirks a little bit to emphasize their words, Izuku found himself smiling. The stress from talking to those reporters earlier was fading away, and he was already learning new things just by listening to them talk, and they answered his questions when he asked them. He was included, and he was... happy!

The boy with green and white hair eventually excused himself from the table, and leaving Shouto behind, made his way to one of the more isolated bathrooms to do some thinking in a quieter location.


	11. Revelations And Realizations

Izuku stared at his reflection in the mirror, taking in the sight of the quiet boy that was standing alone in an empty bathroom.

One shift later, and she was staring at a contemplative girl in the mirror, before she abruptly remembered that she was in the men's bathroom and quickly shifted back. That could've been weird, if someone walked in. A girl, wearing a suit, in the men's bathroom? Absolutely preposterous. Society wasn't ready for such daring occurrences yet. He should stick to a male form when he was in a male bathroom.

However... he could totally go into the women's bathroom as a girl. Surprisingly, the thought of doing so had never occurred to him before, so he didn't actually know what female bathrooms were like. Obviously they wouldn't have any urinals, so what replaced those? More toilets? Couches, maybe, like those fancy bathrooms in high-end hotels and restaurants? Is that why the girls in his class tended to go to the bathroom in small groups rather than individually? He'd have to find out, but doing so at the Gala _probably_ wouldn't be the best idea...

Suddenly, the bathroom door slammed open and shut, and Izuku instinctively went still to minimize the possibility of drawing attention to himself. A hissing steam began to spread into the room from the door, and what sounded like stressed breathing accompanied it, giving him a concerned urge to see if something was wrong. The door was around the corner, out of sight of the mirror, but it would only take him three steps to look. Three steps to check and see if the person who had just entered the bathroom was okay.

Three steps to round the corner and witness the huge form of All Might suddenly shrink into a malnourished skeleton of a human.

Izuku, absolutely shocked, froze again. This probably would have given him a few more moments of going unnoticed, had it not been for the confused noise that somehow escaped his lips, which caused the skinny but still very tall version of All Might to realize that he wasn't alone. 

Looking him dead in the eyes, the man swore in English, and promptly coughed an absolutely concerning amount of blood onto the floor.

"Shit- fuck- don't worry, young man, I'm not actually All Might. I'm, uh... I'm a stunt double, yes! The number one hero is perfectly safe and healthy!"

The preteen stared at him, appalled by the horrendous lying skills of the hero, and shakily reached over to grab a towel from the fancy rack of numerous hand towels for people to dry their hands on. It was red, so the blood wouldn't show. At least, not as well as it would on one of the yellow or white towels, that was for sure. _'But still- and excuse my mental language- what the absolute fuck, All Might?'_

"You... I-I'm sorry, but you're a very bad liar..."

He held the towel up to the man's face, and after it was accepted by a very nervous Symbol of Peace, the eleven year old scanned the bathroom for any supplies that would help him clean up the blood. Sometimes Mama had caused him to bleed when she was really angry, and he'd learned how to clean up the messes he left behind, but there didn't seem to be any cleaning supplies available in this isolated public bathroom. They'd probably be in a supply closet...

Izuku slowly took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, deciding to start mopping up the blood with another red towel in hand, and then the number one hero finally reacted.

"Wait, young man, you don't have to clean this up! It's my mess, I'll get it myself!"

He looked up at the man, and tried to give him the same _look_ that Rei had given Touya-nii when he accidentally set off the smoke alarm by trying to cook food on his own body. Judging by the way the hero froze, he'd done a good job of it, and he felt his cheeks warm a bit as he went back to mopping up the blood.

"W-With all due respect, All Might-sama, if you're hurt enough to be coughing up blood, then you probably shouldn't be compressing your lungs by crouching down and bending over to clean up when someone else is willing to do it for you... You should probably be in the hospital, honestly... I guess this explains your temporary absence from the public eye..."

When the towel in his hands started letting blood seep through to his skin, he briefly hesitated as he considered what to do with it, before tossing it directly into the trash and grabbing another towel to continue. Before him, still awkwardly half-crouched and holding his own towel, the skinny Symbol of Peace looked as though someone had died right in front of him. He understood, kind of...

_'It has to be terribly awkward, to have a civilian find out that you're not okay when you're doing your best to hide it. What sort of villain could injure him badly enough to make him cough up blood, though? There are plenty of Pokemon out there capable of dealing this sort of damage, but I've never heard of a fight where All Might failed to overcome a villain's Pokemon with his own, so it had to be a quirk of some kind. That means that the villain had to either have a very powerful quirk, or be incredibly skilled at using it, or both. But, the last villain All Might had fought before his absence was Toxic Chainsaw... and while that was a damaging quirk to face, that villain had been taken down with ease. Did Toxic Chainsaw's quirk have secret long lasting effects that grew worse over time, or something? Or was there another villain fight afterwards that wasn't publicized? It makes sense that the Symbol of Peace would want to avoid being seen by the public while seriously injured, because he's supposed to be able to win every battle and save everyone in danger-'_

The weakened hero cleared his throat, a rough sound with a slight edge to it, and Izuku turned red as he realized that he'd been muttering his thoughts aloud again. At least according to his therapist, that muttering was a good sign for his recovery, so he couldn't dislike it too much.

"Well... you're certainly a sharp one. How _old_ are you? _Please say you're just a very short high schooler._ "

The boy with green and white hair swapped out towels again, the thick volume of the mess having mostly been picked up, and tossed another red towel into the sink in preparation of when he'd start cleaning the residue with water and fancy, scented hand soap.

"I-I'm eleven years old, All Might-sama."

He chanced another peek up at the man, and once again, All Might looked as though someone had died right in front of him. " _A literal child_ ," the man whispered to himself in what looked like self-deprecating horror, as he leaned back against the door. "Kid, I'm so sorry. How do I... Would you like an explanation of my current state?"

Eyebrows furrowed, he briefly warred with his desire to accept the explanation and his desire to make sure the hero was okay, before giving in to the former with a nod of his head. Talking about it might help the hero, maybe... if his own experience was to be believed...

"Alright... well. You were correct, that the fight that caused my injuries wasn't made public. I battled with an extremely powerful villain about a year ago, his strength surpassing my own by some measure, and emerged victorious in the end. But, he left his mark on me, and I had to receive emergency medical care immediately afterwards."

Izuku listened attentively, tossing the final towel of pure blood into the trash, and moved to apply fancy handsoap and water to the towel that was in the sink.

"The doctors did their best, but my stomach was pulverized, and half of my respiratory system was destroyed. I can only be a hero for roughly ten hours each day now, before my body gives out on me, and that time keeps going down. The scars of that fight will stick with me forever, and although I am grateful that villain will never be able to harm an innocent again, I... still wish that I could have done better."

The atmosphere in the room was somber, a sort of seriousness filling it that Izuku hadn't felt since he was trapped in that house with Inko. It reminded him of the fear he'd felt all the time back then, and of the little habits he still had that proved he hadn't recovered yet, but it wasn't his fear. It wasn't his pain that filled the room right now, and even if he tried, he knew that he wouldn't be able leave without trying to help ease it.

Maybe people with the Ghost affinity did attract misery, as the stereotype suggested, but that meant they could understand the pain that most other people could barely begin to help with. Izuku's therapist was a Ghost secondary, and Touya was a Ghost primary, and they both knew how to help people. Izuku knew how to help people too, and if he didn't at least try to do so now, then he'd be living up to the negative stereotype that declared Ghost trainers to be cowards.

Rinsing off his hands, the preteen reached up to move his bangs to the side, revealing the aggressive, burgundy Lichtenberg scars that came from his mother's last attack on his person.

"I... I got these scars from my Mama the last time I saw her in person," he said quietly, using one finger to follow the trail of his scars from beside his left eye up to his hairline. "She threw me headfirst into the TV while it was still on, and the electricity running through it gave me them. You can tell where the hidden scars are by looking at the white patches of my hair. It used to be completely green, but my scalp was damaged in those areas, so I'm k-kind of lucky that I still have hair growing there at all."

He let his bangs drop back into place, and picked up the soapy towel, watching the hero bring a hand up to his mouth from the corner of his eye. 

"Mama was stronger than me, and I couldn't fight back. I couldn't escape her by myself- I needed help from Rei-san and Enji-san. They adopted me, and even though she's not in prison, I'm safe. Your villain was stronger than you, but you still beat him, even though you ended up with scars too. You already did better than I did, and you saved hundreds of innocent people in the process- thousands, millions even, with this villain having been stronger than you are. I-If you're berating yourself for not saving more people, or if you're upset that you were weak for being damaged by him, you're wrong. I'm weaker than you, but I'm still strong. And _you're_ still strong."

His voice was kept quiet, as he cleaned up the residual blood from the floor and the bottom of the adjacent wall. The towel was rinsed out a few times, and soon the blood was gone- or at least, the residue was so minor that it was no longer visible to the naked eye. For good measure, he went over the area once more, before tossing the final towel into the trash and washing himself off.

"B-But, if you really feel like you could have done better, then try asking for help so you can improve yourself for the future. My therapist told me that there is no shame in asking for help, and if she doesn't know that, then who would? So if you want to keep saving people, if you want to be better than you are now, then ask for help from friends and family members that you can trust. The Todorokis have helped me, and I'm sure that you have people who can help you, or you can probably find some easily if you don't."

Izuku dried his hands, and checked himself over in the mirror, making sure that none of the blood from the floor had gotten on his suit. It was expensive, and he'd feel terrible if he'd managed to ruin it or at least dirty it the first time he wore it out, plus it would be really nerve-wracking to explain that he'd spent maybe half an hour cleaning up blood that came from an injured guy whose identity he couldn't disclose.

Moving away from the door to properly enter the main area of the bathroom, the damaged number one hero stared at him with an array of expressions crossing his face; tiny muscle twitches that he read and decided not to think too much about. He'd already overstepped, probably, and it would be outright rude to take things any further. Honestly, he'd just told _All Might_ what to do with his _life_ , as though he actually had any sort of authority on the matter! Kami strike him dead if the man was offended at all, he might as well just die now.

"U-Um, anyways, y-yeah... I'm just gonna go back to my family now... they're p-probably wondering where I am!"

The intelligent preteen pretended that he wasn't currently red with embarrassment, as he rolled down his sleeves and pulled his jacket back on, and quickly ducked around the hero to reach for the door. At a somewhat strangled sound from the man, he turned back and said one last thing, not wanting to leave him in anything even resembling a state of fear or uncertainty.

"D-Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what I know. Your secret's safe with me."

With that, the nervous Izuku fled the bathroom in style, totally not tripping at all as he returned to his family and used them as living shields for the rest of the event.

* * *

Several hours had passed since the Hero's Gala had ended, and Midoriya Izuku was afraid.

No, not Midoriya, not anymore... but still. They were afraid, even though they'd been in a safe environment for over a year now, even though they'd been seeing a therapist and had a companion to take care of and knew that they weren't going to be punished by their Mama again. Their dresser was slowly emptying of food, as their family always made sure they had what they needed or even just wanted, but they were still afraid. It was so hard to let their guard down, so difficult to relax for too long, before their defenses were raised by something completely harmless.

They felt terrible about it, because they _knew_ that they were safe and loved, but sometimes they just _reacted_... and then it felt like they were a failure again.

The Todorokis had learned how to read their body language for cues as to their state of mind, just as Izuku had learned to read microexpressions to determine whether or not someone was calm and happy enough to talk to, and they abided by it. The Todorokis were always so careful with them- Enji-san making an effort to avoid defaulting to what Natsuo called his 'resting bitch face' because it was too similar to the expression Mama made when she was going to punish them, Rei-san and Fuyumi always making a little extra noise so as to alert Izuku to their presence- but never in a way that made them feel like they were fragile or broken, and they felt terrible that they were still scared of them sometimes.

At least they were never scared of Shouto, or Natsuo, or Touya. 

They weren't scared of or by Shouto for obvious reasons. He was one of their only friends from the time people thought they were quirkless, and the two knew each other well. The boy had gained their trust before they'd ever been adopted, so they didn't need to keep their guard up in his presence, and they didn't have to worry about him turning on them. One of their safe hiding places was actually in his room, because they knew that he wouldn't do anything to hurt them, physically or emotionally.

As for Natsuo, they didn't know him as well as they knew Shouto, but their introduction to him had made it clear that he was a goofball. In fact, the one and only incident where he'd actually made them cry was from _laughter_ , because he'd lit his arm on fire as a half-joke, half-experiment, and had then tried to put it out with his own ice, which was flammable. The whole time he was rolling around trying to put himself out, he was laughing, and the sight of it had been so hilarious that they couldn't help but join in. Fuyumi had to grab a bucket of water from the top of a door down the hall- another prank setup, this time devised by Touya- and throw the contents onto him, putting out the fire before chastising him as she usually did when he failed to think things through.

Then there was Touya, who other than Shouto, Izuku was probably the closest to. In part, this was because they shared the same primary affinity, but it was also because he _understood_ them. He knew when to give them space and how to help them through one of their usually-silent panic attacks, and although he hid it well, they knew that he felt more protective of them than their other family members. He was the eldest Todoroki sibling, and he looked after them all in some way, and he felt... _safe_. If Izuku ever had a problem that they couldn't solve themself or solve with Shouto's help, they knew that they could go to him, and he would help them.

That was why they were in his room now, actually, standing beside his bed and nervously watching him sleep. They needed help with something very selfish, and because they were just a little too uncertain to ask Enji-san or Rei-san for it, they were going to Touya instead. He would understand, he would know how to reassure them, and he would be able to help them with this small, stupid, selfish thing.

"Touya-nii... are you awake...?"

Several hours had passed since the Gala had ended, and it was the middle of the night. Izuku had stayed up this whole time, after changing out of their suit and shifting back to the neutral form they preferred, donning the most comfortable pair of pajamas in their wardrobe. It had been an equally exciting and stressful event, and they had a lot to think about, so they'd remained awake long after the rest of the household had retired for the evening. Everyone was tired, eager to sleep... and so they did. All except for Izuku.

The genderless preteen had stayed up, staring at themself in the mirror, thinking about everything that had occurred in their life. They'd thought about family, and what it had been like with Inko, and what it was currently like with Enji and Rei. As the clock ticked and chimed with each passing hour, they thought about how they had changed over the years, and how they wanted to continue changing in the future... 

They were ready to truly accept the Todorokis as their family. 

"Touya-nii, wake up..."

Initially, the Todoroki name had been thrust upon them, and they had spent a long time of not knowing what to feel about it. But the Todorokis had all been so careful and loving, so warm and inviting, that they couldn't help but love them in return. The only reasons that they were still scared at all were because of what Mama had done to them, not what the Todorokis had done, and they finally realized that. Enji and Rei were better parents than Mama had ever been, and Izuku knew that now. So as they stared at their reflection and thought about that realization, they finally wanted to cast aside the name that had brought them so much misery, and it was like an important puzzle piece had clicked into place.

Izuku was not a Midoriya. They did not have the green hair and green eyes of Midoriya Inko- not in their imagination, at least. In their imagined reflection of who they were now, they had red and white hair, and blue eyes, or grey eyes, or both. They were a Todoroki, not a Midoriya, and they wanted to make their appearance reflect that.

"Touya."

It was selfish of them, to make such a decision on their own, without consulting anyone else first. It was selfish to expect that Touya would help them, even if they knew he would, once they explained why they wanted to do so. It was selfish to go behind the backs of two parents who loved them, when they'd probably have a solution as well, just because they didn't want to chance being kept from doing so.

"Touya-nii!"

Mama had hurt them enough, and she was still hurting them even though she was nowhere near them. They wanted to take some of that power away, even if it was by doing something as minor as dyeing their hair, or getting colored contacts. She was a part of them and she always would be, but they were more than her now, and they wanted to show who they had _chosen_ to be associated with.

Izuku was a _Todoroki_ , and they would wear their family's colors with pride.

"TOUYA!"

Their eldest brother promptly half-jumped, half-flopped out of bed, landing face-first on the floor. Sparks of blue-hot fire tried to catch on the carpet, but this carpet was fireproof as were the many other carpets in the estate, so the most it actually did was melt a little bit. Then, the sparks died down, and a low groan sounded within the dimly-lit room.

Maybe they shouldn't have chosen yelling as their method of waking him up.

"S-Sorry to bother you, Touya-nii..."

Todoroki Touya pushed himself up into a sitting position, stared blearily at Izuku for what felt like a solid minute, and yawned.

"Whhhh... Wassup, lil' sib...? What brings you to my humble room at ass o'clock in the morning?"

The genderless preteen bowed slightly, perhaps being a little more polite than they needed to be, in order to make up for the rude awakening they'd given him. It was time to make their request, and despite all the times they'd rehearsed the line in their head, they still ended up stuttering on the first syllable.

"I-I want you to dye the green parts of my hair red, please."

The request took a few sleepy moments to process, before the redheaded teen reached out and pat Izuku's curls, yawning again.

"Aaaaaaalright then... I expected something, but I didn't expect it to be about your hair... Go on and get in the bathroom, I need to wake myself up a bit if you want this done right."

He... didn't even ask for an explanation.

Why was he expecting something, though? Had they been staring at him too obviously lately, or was it an experience thing? They didn't know, and they probably wouldn't find out if they didn't ask, but right now they were more surprised that he'd agreed without question. It even took them a few moments to straighten up and take the suggestion to get in the bathroom, but another yawn spurred them into doing so, breaking their state of frozen surprise. They didn't want to give him a reason to change his mind, after all, and lagging behind on something they'd asked for was probably a good one.

Todoroki Izuku entered the bathroom, and floundered for a moment before just sitting down on the edge of the tub, excitement and anxiety bubbling in their chest at what was the first step towards looking like they belonged.

**Author's Note:**

> Gweetings, owo
> 
> It is I, Ulti, with another fic that I probably shouldn't be writing, but I just couldn't help myself xD
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments below, or in my discord server~ <https://discord.gg/AvTG2SJ>


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